Sales are still down at Vale’s last remaining pub, the Skylark, on Farnborough Road. Lynn Anderson, the Skylark’s proprietor, said in early November that the smoking ban had caused a dramatic fall in sales, and that she would have to make a decision about the pub in the very near future. Two months on and the situation has not improved. A spokesperson for the pub said: ” New Year was very quiet, especially compared with the previous year. Last year we had a big turn out at our fancy dress do, but this year, it was very quiet. People prefer to go to the hotels, or to stay at home with cheaper drink that they’ve bought from local supermarkets. They can smoke at home, too, so that is another attraction.
“There hasn’t been any improvement here in the last two months. We are really struggling. We are having a promotion on Thursday nights with an 80s disco, and we shall have to see how that goes. But it seems that pubs are less attractive, particularly to young people, than they used to be.”
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