Fraters Libertas

Atomizer's Gin Palace?

A story in last week's Economist reported that newly proposed smoking bans in England may lead to the return of the gin palace:

A BAN on smoking in pubs came closer last week, when the government's consultation on a proposed new law ended. For libertarians this unwelcome news is tempered by the possibility that the law could bring about an unexpected architectural revival.

The proposed law distinguishes between places that serve food--to be smoke-free--and those that do not. One way to get around a ban would therefore be to stop dishing up pub grub. But another, according to Richard Seedhouse of the Victorian Society, which worries about the preservation of 19th-century buildings, might be to restore the original interiors of pubs, many of which are Victorian. A typical Victorian pub was divided up into many smaller spaces. If those were restored, smokers and non-smokers could avoid each other, without interrupting the flow of lasagne and chips from pub kitchens.

Victorian pubs typically had at least two separate areas: a public bar for the poor and for labourers and a better room for shopkeepers and skilled workers. The two were split by frosted glass and mahogany. Some also had a smoking room. The rooms had separate entrances from the street (to avoid any unsavoury mingling) and charged different prices for the same beer.

Actually this sounds like a great idea for Keegan's Irish Pub in Minneapolis. I can see it now: a better room reserved solely for the Fraters Libertas trivia squad. It could be a smoking room with a separate entrance to avoid all that unsavory mingling. And of course, different (read lower) prices for the same beer. Yes indeed, I believe the time has truly come.

Mr. Keegan, put up that wall!