The terrible consequences of Second Hand Smoke in pubs

I was brought up in a pub that was owned by my grandmother. She had owned pubs long before l was born and had 3 children. One was my mother and the other 2  my uncles. My grandmother never smoked but my mother and uncles did although my mother has now stopped. By the time l came along my grandmother was running the pub by herself because she had divorced my grandfather (another smoker).My 2 uncles now had families and homes of their own as did my mother but because my father (and my uncles) were deepsea fishermen, my mother (and us kids) spent most of the time at the pub. The reason being that deepsea fishermen were away for 3 weeks and home for an average of only 60hrs so my mother helped my grandmother run the pub.

lt was a glorious time for myself and 2 younger sisters. We were allowed in the pub itself when it was open or until it got busy or it got late and time for us to get ready for bed. We lived in the accommodation on the first floor and the bedrooms were on the 2nd floor. Access to the first floor was by an open staircase, indeed this open staircase continued to the 2nd floor. To get to the stair case from the pub itself, you either came from a door that opened directly to the main bar or another door straight into the lounge bar. The area at the bottom of the stairs was like a small hallway where the slot machines were. Also off this hallway was the door to the yard and gents toilets. As you can imagine the doors to both bars were in frequent use. This would mean all that deadly Second Hand Smoke was constantly invading this hallway and rising up to the living quarters and bedrooms. Oh, and not to forget the people playing the slot machines who smoked.

The pub actually had another room as well as the main bar and lounge, this was the 'Snug'. It could hold about 30 people but l can't honestly remember it ever been in use. My grandmother told me it was for customers who preferred not to be in the smoky bars and lounge. All the bars had real fires and sometimes l helped out by cleaning out the fires in the mornings and starting new ones. l hated doing the one in the Snug because nobody used it but my grandmother used to tell me that somebody might and so it had to be done. l've asked my mother about this and she says it was used on occasions but very rarely. The only other difference this Snug had in relation to the other bars was it didn't have direct access to the bar itself. You had to come out of the Snug door and walk 2 meters across the pubs side entrance (still inside the pub though)  to a counter that was at the bar. My mother says that it was too secluded from the main bars where everyone was to be of interest to customers. So we have a little Snug room, secluded from the main bars and smoke but nobody used it! ... mmmmm.

The pub was always busy as it was the centre of the community. Lots of houses round it along with a few little shops. lt was a working man's pub to the core.

Here is a picture of the pubs main bar at Xmas circa 1960. You'll note all the smoke filling the bar from all the many smokers,  yes? Well maybe not.


Here is a pic of the front of the pub. Both windows are the main bar  with the entrance in the middle. lf you look at the bottom right you will see the beginning of the pub's side entrance where the Snug was. The Snug had a window similar to the windows shown in this pic. So, you had window, main entrance, window, side entrance, window.

 This is a pic of the side entrance ,,, Easter Bonnet Competition. My grandmother is the lady on the far left and l forgot to mention her ... the little old lady in the brown outfit is my great grandmother that stayed with my grandmother occasionally.


Right, now to the terrible consequences, my great grandmother died at the age of 98 and she smoked all her life, my grandmother (non-smoker) died at the age of 86 due to a road traffic accident. My mother is 80 next month, her brother (my uncle is 85) and her elder brother (my uncle) is 93 and all are active and never had any major surgery or illnesses.

l started smoking at 36 (last time l was in hospital was when l was 6 when l had my tonsils out), eldest of my younger sisters started smoking at 22  and is in good health, my other 2 sisters don't smoke and never have and both are in good health. Wait you say! ... earlier on you said 2 sisters? Yes my youngest sister was actually born in the pub in one of the bedrooms. 

l have 2 daughters and 3 nieces, 3 out of the 5 are smokers. l've got 5 cousins on my mothers side and 3 of them smoke ... all are in good health. 

Last but not least, my grandfather (smoker) ... died at the age of 76 of a heart attack.

These are the terrible consequences of Second Hand Smoke in a very smoky pub. A time of pipes, Woodbines and Capstan Full Strength cigarettes (filter cigarettes were for girlies!)

The pub still exists today but all the houses around it were demolished and the community scattered. There are a few industrial units but that's all. Sad to see the old Star and Garter like that.

So, these aren't just stats, they are MY stats backed up with living evidence and facts ... real facts. Oh, and just for good measure l think l should throw in that none of my family, neither past or present, are or ever have been tee-total.

Think ASH or Alcohol Concern would be interested in my stats?  :)

24 comments:

  1. Aside from the point of this story, which is a point well taken and which ASH etal. should be forced to respond - in query, under oath, in an investigation by Parliament, in response to this and other pub stories - the tale in itself is absolutely charming and along with the photos creates the fondest of memories, even for those of us who were not brought up with family owning a pub. It is a very good story, proves its point, but is also very heartening and nostalgic to the way things used to be, even not so long ago, prior to about July 2007 when that world was destroyed by a hateful and vengenful fake-charity and foul-government working hand in hand against the will of the people.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great pics.
    I grew up in a pub.
    Best place out.
    God help the new puritans.
    Shame
    :-o

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for this. It reminds me of my upbringing in a pub....which was also the best education I could have asked for

    ReplyDelete
  4. Says it all when non-smokers didn't use the extra room in your grandmother's pub. They had the choice but chose to remain in the main bars.Pity smokers don't have the same choice nowadays. Whereabouts is this pub?

    ReplyDelete
  5. l can see wooden barrels in the b/w pic! :-) Those were the days! Great story that shows what we've lost.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Indeed, also highlights the bullshit that I've seen spread more often recently, about people (smokers and non-smokers) growing to accept and even like the smokefree legislation. Bullshit! If some semi-libertarian in Government did allow smoking rooms in pubs, even if they were tiny and had no bar (like the snug described above), we all know what would happen. That room would be packed to the gills and the rest of the place would be empty. That's why fighting for smoking rooms is pointless - they'll never accept it as it would highlight what bullshit the law was, how unpopular it really is and definitively prove how many businesses it had shut down.

    ASH and their evil little helpers would never allow that. No, better to get the thing repealed entirely. Smoking rooms is no half-way house compromise with the antis - they'd never let it happen for the reasons outlined above. May as well go for the whole thing to go.

    ReplyDelete
  7. John B ... it's down Portland Street, Hull. Pub is now larger as they built an extension on the side where 4 or 5 terraces houses were. lt was a Tetleys pub and Tetleys were famous for their Shire horses and drays that made deliveries. Believe that ended in 1966 but they kept the horses for ceremonial purposes and displays. Tetleys were taken over by Carlsberg and sadly they got rid of these horses in 2006 saying they were too expensive to keep.

    Anon 11.22 Yes, the trap doors to the cellar were outside the side entrance to the right. You can just see the edge of them.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi "SH", I would imagine that you will get the same ' ...err...umm...err....well you see...!' as I did when i wrote to Arnotts mongrels and asked the simple question "why have 9 of my wife's family died of cancer (various) when none of them smoked? The majority of them were God fearing people who neither drank nor smoked and the ages (at death) ranged from between 34 and 93/94". When the youngest one (her cousin) was told there was nothing tghey could do for him he took up smoking & drinking with some vigour, bless him. I suppose ASH would say that he could have lived another 10 minutes had he not done so!
    Funnily enough, those charlatans at CRUK failed to come up with any sort of explanation whatsoever-yet the family doctor was firmly of the opinion that "it's in the genes". Well, he's signed 9 of them off!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You gotta laugh. The moronic twat that keeps spamming has to go through all the time and trouble to post and have to do the captcha thingy just to get deleted at a single click. All the time the stupid twat does this he pushes up the ratings of N2D.LMAO
    Good post Smokey, Labour should hang their head in shame at bringing in a full smoking ban despite their promises not to. Lying treacherous bastards the lot of them.

    ReplyDelete
  10. @Phil
    Was never about smoking and still isn't. lt's about keeping their cushy jobs. You can see them getting desperate now as they invent more reasons why they should exists. They're onto cars, homes and snitching and complaining bout their smoking neighbours now. Tween them and Labour they've destroyed and damaged thousands of businesses and countless jobs. l hate them with a vengeance.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for that, shows precisely what we've lost. How can they take away freedom of choice and be so bloody smug about it?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Pubs and WMC's were the meeting place of lots of people and especially the working class. Who would've ever thought it would've been Labour that would destroy them? There's no centre for any community now.

    ReplyDelete
  13. @ Tel: Believe me my friend, I am fully aware that it has nothing to do with smoking or the possible effects of. Now that the few totally rabid assholes have achieved one of the greatest political cons of all time you are absolutely spot on when you state "lt's about keeping their cushy jobs". Can you imagine the likes of Arnott, Dockrell, Duffy et al having to join all those that THEY put out of work-and sign on? What a beautiful sight that would be for they would then be part of the ever growing mass that they have seriously contributed to!
    But then again, to please a lot of smokers we could get that twat from Luton to simply 'sniper the lot of them!' :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Didn't help when Pubcos caved in and the tobacco companies couldn't care less. Also didnt help that Forest were and still are the voice of the tobacco companies but MSM take them as voice of the smoker. Smokers didn't stand a fricking chance.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Handymanphil

    Here's my tribute to the ASH dung pile. Scroll down.

    here

    ReplyDelete
  16. Lets get some real truths about
    second hand "fumes"
    I worked over 45 years in 100s
    of different industrial locations
    were the fumes and smoke were far far more lethal than cigarette smoke.Foundries,forges,fettling shops,vessel welding bays,welding
    shops,Bessemer Bays,die casting shops,carbon fibre machining,
    polycarbonate extrusion to name a few. Men and women still work in these hell holes ,but wait a minute
    croak the cig haters,these hell holes have ventilators
    Cant be much use if they are
    considered "of no use" in a near empty smoky pub.
    In short its not the welfare and health of staff and customers which
    is the issue here,its something far more devious,sinister and universal at play,to complex for the average state educated half wit to understand.
    Mention the fume filled hell holes to any pro ban MP and hope they mention extractors,red faces all round.
    If only we had "The 300"

    Anything goes,the ends justify the means

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anon 22.02 Election time they promise everything. Get elected and they forget everything.

    ReplyDelete
  18. People like ASH believe that us ordinary humans are livestock.

    If they could operate selective breeding from the more docile specimens, it would make their task so much easier.

    They dream of eliminating "character" from the flock.

    They have picked the wrong species.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Those were the days. We all have Smoky-Drinkys now where everyone comes round. Cheap baccy, cheap alcohol is now the name of the game. Saves us a fortune and we have great nights, plus the Pubcos and Gov get nothing from us. Sod both of them!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Shoulda left that up SH. His site is as funny as hell.

    ReplyDelete
  21. labour wanted the smoking ban as they wanted people to live in a climate of fear(no people in pubs saying its all a crock) so they could trample over peoples civil liberties

    ReplyDelete
  22. One small detail of law which smashes the myth of passive smoking
    effecting others

    SMOKING IN A GARDEN SHED AT THE BOTTOM (20 METRES FROM PUB)OF A
    REAR PUB GARDEN,,,,IS ILLEGAL

    SMOKING IN A BIKE SHED IN A PUB BACK YARD....IS ILLEGAL

    HAVING A WALL LEAN-TO WITH MORE THAN ONE SIDE....IS ILLEGAL

    Anyone with an IQ of more than 50
    could suss out what the real reason
    is for a TOTAL BAN


    Boycott the pubs untill they are prepared to stand up and fight.


    Rainbow Bridge

    ReplyDelete
  23. C'mon anon 21.53, we have smoking shelters and is states quite specifically "The accommodation must be kept at a comfortable temperature which is -"

    Sorry, my bad - that's for cattle.

    ReplyDelete

"In the eyes of the Tribunal the review letter contained several preconceptions, prejudgments and non-sequiturs"

"the absurdity of this reason is demonstrated by simply stating it"

"We therefore find that Mr Sked misdirected himself as to the Policy in carrying out the review and his decision is therefore one that no reasonable review officer could have arrived at."

... commonly known here at N2D as 'Skeds' ... that is to say these are Judges comments regarding UKBA Review Officer Ian Sked's reasons for rejecting peoples appeals against seizures.

Comments are now moderated to keep out spam and those with malicious intent. The author of this blog is not liable for the content of any comments ... period!