Dick Puddlecote (via the Adur Brewery, and added to ‘Anti-Righteous Indignation’) has more on the ’smoking research centre’ loophole which may yet save a traditional British pub (or two).
Once again I repeat that what Ingsoc has against pubs is not smoking or drinking per se, though these are always used as stalking-horses; what can’t be tolerated about pubs is their lack of adequate surveillance. They are hotbeds of anti-State activity; unlistened-to conversations, untaxed transactions, no identification or tracking of those involved, and often filled with people who know each other so well that any stranger, such as a secret State agent, will stick out like a sore thumb.
Of course the proles will still be allowed to drink themselves into a coma on Victory Lager; they might be troublesome if they were sober, and the taxes can always be increased. But if Ingsoc stays in power, pubs are history. Thus spake Nostradunderclass.
