Smoking ban may be death of pub

19th July 2005

CATHERINE WOULFE

The smoking ban in bars has forced Mark and Raewyn Payne to consider closing Dannevirke's iconic Masonic Hotel.

During the last six months, profits have been $115,000 down on last year and the couple have had to let their two full-time staff go, putting a bed in a room behind the bar so they can take turns out front.

Mrs Payne said the smoking ban meant they were "more or less existing to work".

"One of us will take a nap while the other tends the bar."

They took over the business two years ago but are now thinking seriously about closing.

There was nowhere to install a smoking area.

"No matter which option we take, it's inevitable the Masonic will have to close," she said.

They were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"If we continue to comply with the ban, we will go broke, and if we break the ban, the authorities will most likely take our licence away, forcing us to close."

The manager of Dannevirke's Punterz Bar and TAB didn't want to be named, but said he had sympathy for the Paynes.

Smoking in bars was a tradition: "And then, all of a sudden, they get that right taken away from them. It's certainly taken the edge off things."

The first month was okay, he said, "and then it got gradually worse as we got into winter".

Ashtrays were provided, but smokers still made a mess and often blocked doorways.

"No-one's happy with it," he said.

But in Havelock North, the Rose and Shamrock was doing "fine" under the new laws. Duty manager Chrissie Macaulay said it didn't affect them much because they had a garden bar.

"It seemed to bring in more people, people who didn't really want to come in when there's smoke."

At the Albert Hotel in Hastings, little had changed. Manager Dodo Hauwai said the law had probably had some effect, but most people still came in and smoked in their smoking area.