Yesterday I mentioned the Number 10 petition wallahs skipping through tulip-filled meadows in their elysian fantasy world.
... the impact on the hospitality trade as a whole has been at worst neutral and in many cases positive. We have seen no significant evidence to date that implies that smokefree legislation ... will create any long-term economic problems for pubs or the hospitality trade in general.
So, today, here are a couple of extracts from stories they may have missed.
In London.
Eleven pubs are closing in London each week as the recession, the smoking ban, high taxes and the structure of the industry force the capital's boozers out of business.
In the first six months of the year, 281 of the estimated 7000 pubs in London called last orders for the final time, according to figures released today by the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA).
And in the world of hospitality business.
Marston's, the brewer and pub chain, has reported a steep fall in annual profits, despite a recent rise in sales.
It blamed the overall falls on agressive discounting in supermarkets, the weak economy and a continuing consequence of the smoking ban.
Here is the Number 10 e-petitions team, pictured earlier today.
