Trish: Vancouver Needs More Pubs
By Richard Eriksson on September 27, 2004 - 3:14am
trish at Spirit of Place defends pubs by saying that they are good places to study as the alcohol "can be a great facilitator of good ideas" (funny, I think the opposite) and the conversations can be lively.
Vancouver doesn't have enough real pubs. We've plenty of bars and bistros where we can go for a drink, but these are all places where you sit at your own table and pretend the other patrons don't exist. When we were in Scotland, one of the things we loved best was the way people would talk to you in pubs. I'm not sure if it was because we were so obviously tourists, or because pubs are a social experience, but either way I wish that happened more over here.in defence of the pub
She says later that she's likely to drink more at a pub if it's a smoke-free environment, and that bars who once opposed the ban are now reaping the benefits of it:
Vancouver's had a smoking ban for a couple years now and it's worked really great. Rather than sales slipping, it appears that pubs are booming as more people head out for drinks when they know that they wont smell of cigarettes the next morning. I know that we spend a lot more time in pubs than we use to. Even Saskatchewan has realized the importance of smoke-free public spaces (including patios!).why non-smoking pubs make me drink a lot more
