Personally I love the smoking ban, however, landlords should have been able to have a smoking/non smoking bar.
One great thing up this way, that all the sh it pubs are closing, the mongs flock to 'spoons where the can be corralled and there are plenty of independent pubs, run by small breweries, opening. 3 recently in our town, all are excellent and packed with people who like beer, and not the chavy lager drinking, shoes from Asda, white shirts untucked, brigade.