Bars Close as Night Time Economy Suffers - TAUNTON'S night-time economy is in crisis, with revellers spending less.[Taunton News]

I think it is about time that the number of clubs and pubs in this town fell back to a reasonable number. I always found it surprising that a town of this size could support so many of the same type of establishment. I mean they were mostly aimed at the young for the purpose of excess and the family or older professional types were not provided for as much. With all the talk of project Taunton and how we are about to regenerate the town this is probably very good news indeed. Who would come to Taunton to spend their money with the reputation the place was getting at a weekend.

What I find really interesting is how a lot of the blame is being placed on the smoking ban. A little while ago the landlord of the Westgate stopped running his pub and blamed the ban stating that customers were not coming because of it. Now bigger chains are claiming the same thing and I wonder if people are actually going out less if they are a smoker. Would you go out for an evening where you had to leave the premises every hour or so while you were there. I think the ban also makes the town look worse as you have groups of people hanging around outside these places dragging on their fags. The government wants to place cigarettes under the counter so that children can't see them and be influenced to buy them but the groups of smokers outside premises can't be missd by anyone.

Some of the comments on the gazette page are quite interesting in that no one seems to be too worried that these type of places are dissapearing. In fact I think the over all feeling is good maybe the town can retrieve a better image now that this type of place is not attracting that type of person. I hope so it has been a while since I have felt able to take a casual stroll with my wife into town on a weekend evening for a meal. I think I would like to do that again.