New York sports and suburban bars decimated by smoking ban
Our members have had 12 months experience of working with a blanket smoking ban.
Most bars we represent have lost between 15% and 25% of their custom on an incremental basis since the ban’s imposition, and recently, at a more aggressive rate since the weather became more inclement during the winter months.
Wholesale beer and liquor distributors admit that on-premises deliveries are down by over 17.5% in the past six months.
City centre bars and restaurants in tourist and business areas are less affected, as increased food sales have partially made up for the deficit on their drink sales.
However, sports bars, pubs and neighbourhood bars have been decimated, turnover and profits are down and customers’ routine upset. An epidemic of bar sales has driven down auction prices.
Even the better restaurants have noticed a distinct drop in après-meal drink sales. Single malts sit on the shelf, while diners retire early to sit at home and smoke.
New York has seen a sea-change in how people socialise and entertain. Conference business is down. Nightlife industry takings have suffered.
Many tourists are diverting to more smoker-friendly destinations.
Tourist-dependent Maryland and business-savvy Connecticut, on the other hand, last month defeated similar bills, enacting instead laws that allow smoking in bars and designated restaurants where modern air-purifiers are used.
Other states are repealing their anti-smoking regulations, or are voluntarily adopting stringent air-filtration standards in bars. New York’s multi-billion dollar hospitality industry has been dealt an unnecessary blow by Mayor Bloomberg, in the interest of protecting workers from the unproven effects of second-hand smoke.
Health Minister Micheál Martin has used Mayor Bloomberg’s unsupported statistics to impose a harsher non-smoking law on Ireland’s bars this week, in the hope that Irish adults will forgo cigarettes and lead healthier lives.
Meantime, smoking has not vanished in New York. Despite a tripling of the tax on cigarettes, and a $100 million dollar advertising campaign to encourage smokers to quit, there is no evidence one year later that people are giving up cigarettes, or leading healthier lives.
There is, however, ample evidence that the small business sector has been detrimentally affected by the smoking ban.
Last week members of the Republican majority in the New York senate proposed an amendment which would allow smoking in certain air-filtered sections of bars, and would provide tax incentives for bars which declare themselves non-smoking establishments.
Ireland would do well to follow their compromise, as quickly as they copied their mistakes.
Brian Nolan,
Executive Director,
United Restaurant & Tavern Owners of New York, Inc,
305, Madison Ave, Suite 1946,
New York,
USA.
