The hotel above is in the heart of the ancient seaside town of Whitby (made famous by Bram Stoker and his book, Dracula) which is teaming with tourists and visitors 24/7. It [The New Angel Hotel] should have survived anything barring a Tsunami. Like any seaside town that faces the North Sea, when that cold icy wind blows towards it then you have to wrap up well. Tourists are hardy beasts and will cheerfully wander round in a force ten gale to see all the wonderful sights their chosen resort has to offer but when it comes to relaxation then they seek out warm and inviting pubs or clubs in which to imbibe a drink or three whilst chatting wistfully over digital photos of aunty Dot partaking of the Dracula Experience.
Since the 1st of July 2007 the law of the UK stipulated that the auntie Dot’s of this world, if they smoke, would have to go outside in all inclement weathers to partake of that particular verboten fruit, no matter how old or infirm.
No matter what the anti smoking, Tobacco Controlling prohibitionists may tell you, over 9000 business have been wiped out and that is directly attributable to the smoking ban, period! For anti smokers to deny this in light of many sources in the hospitality industry is another attempt to pull the wool over the
MPs have started to listen now as many in the hospitality industry are clamouring at their doors in ‘the big house’ asking for some respite from the ban as it dawned on them that appeasement has cost them dearly. The irony is that appeasement doesn’t work as a political strategy, as Neville Chamberlain found out to his cost in the 1930’s, and we know where that led.
Since before the ban came into our lives Freedom2Choose have been at the forefront of dissent towards it and have a proven record of making representations to our governors. F2C has made many alliances with august bodies like the CIU and Shisha bar associations.
A Call to Arms
As reported by Simon Clark on his blog Taking Liberties there will be a special reception in the House of Commons on the 29th of June 2011 hosted by The Rt Hon Greg Knight MP (Conservative), Roger Godsiff MP (Labour) and John Hemming MP (Liberal Democrat).
Our chairman, Phil Johnson will be attending along with Dave Atherton and a few others from F2C.
Phil Johnson and Freedom2Choose would like members and non members alike to help in delivering a strong message to the pre reception MPs about the destructive nature of an ill thought out piece of legislation built on a tissue of lies and misconceptions.
Phil has put together a letter and a submission form for circulating to landlords and club stewards. He will be taking the completed forms to deliver to the MPs on the 29th of June. A copy of the form is shown below.
The original printer friendly form and letter can be downloaded and printed from here (pdf) or here (word doc).
We rarely get the chance to make representations “face to face” with our MPs, especially when it comes to the smoking ban experiment, so we should grasp this opportunity by both hands and then some.
We need these forms filled in by your local landlord/steward ASAP and sending to:
Phil Johnson, Chairman, Freedom2choose, 37 Windley Road, Leicester, LE2 6QX.
I’ll finish with a quote from the chairman of F2C, Phil:
“Will this country finally wake up when every person has to carry a plastic type credit card, which goes through the till and alerts the barperson as soon as you have purchased your 5th drink, that your limit has been reached? This is your chance to show this government that you, the businessman, know your business best.”
