Sad sight of closed pubs
A SAD sight for people of a certain age in Worthing is the Half Brick and Clifton public houses both boarded up, destined to be another statistic of the changing face of the licence trade.
I know the Clifton clearly wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but it was a traditional British local, in every sense of the word, and surely a pub that was devastated by the change in the law regarding smoking.
A former landlord of the Tarring Road hostelry estimated almost as many as 85 per cent of the regulars were smokers, so how could the pub survive with not only the change in the law but with no natural, tailor-made area outside for punters to enjoy a puff?
I'm not a smoker, but I really think that after it has spent years taxing them on their cigarettes, the state has now turned them into pariahs.
If David Cameron is all he claims, he should look at another change in the law to give the decision back to the landlords.
If they want a no-smoking establishment, that's their decision, but by the same token, if they want a bar where drinkers enter knowing people will be allowed to smoke in designated areas, then surely that will see a return to commonsense and a turn in the tide of derelict pubs.
Even with some pubs shut down, Splash FM looks set to paint the town red this weekend with their annual garden party in Steyne Gardens.
When a fledgling station, the bash was always a free concert but as the event has evolved, along with the running costs rising, the powers-that-be took the decision to charge for tickets.
The decision prompted the predictable moans and groans from certain quarters about the introduction of the charge but people have to realise, as the saying goes, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
The bottom line is that entertaining acts, even tribute ones, cost money, and in a very bleak period for commercial radio in general, if Splash doesn't make the event cost-effective, there simply won't be an event, simple as that.
With the acts on offer, although I'm still a little disturbed about the nation's fixation for the late Michael Jackson, the 9 ticket price still represents a great night out for the cost of less than three pints in any of the town centre pubs – well, at least the ones still open!
On the subject of fun and frivolity, does anyone remember Worthing's very own Fiesta Fortnight, and whatever became of the town's 14-day jamboree?
I seem to recall the event had its very own beauty queen, Miss Fiesta. Was that a dual title with Miss Worthing or did we have two local beauties going head to head?
Is there a former Miss Fiesta reading this with the definitive answer to these questions?
Ian Hart's comment is published in the Herald series every Thursday
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Weather for Worthing
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
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Wind direction: South east
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