6/2/03
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
For Immediate Release

Portsmouth Brewery turns twelve, quits smoking.

On the occasion of its twelfth anniversary, the Portsmouth Brewery's owner, Peter Egelston, announced that the popular downtown brewpub will become completely smoke-free, starting Monday, June 9.

"We are taking this step to ensure the health and comfort of our staff and our customers," said Egelston. "This is an issue we wanted to take a leadership position on, rather than waiting for a legislated ban to be forced on us sometime down the road."

One of the busiest restaurants on the Seacoast, the Portsmouth Brewery was started in 1991 by Egelston and his sister Janet. Though no longer business partners, the Egelstons stay in close contact, as Janet is still owner of the first brewpub the pair opened 1987, the Northampton Brewery in western Massachusetts, where smoking was banned by law seven years ago.

"The anti-smoking law in Northampton was very poorly conceived, and our bar business dropped by nearly a third as a result." The Northampton law banned smoking in all establishments that served food but permitted it in bars were no food was served. "It made no sense," Egelston said. "It was as if the legislators, despite all their high-minded talk, had declared that employees and customers of bars were somehow less deserving of protection that those of restaurants. It was a bitter experience for us, and it took us years to recover our lost business."

Egelston believes that history will not repeat itself in Portsmouth, however. "Quite honestly, I am taking the lead from my customers and staff on this one. People are far more aware today of secondhand smoke than they were just a few years ago - they have higher expectations and standards," he adds.

When the Portsmouth Brewery opened, its non-smoking section consisted of approximately fifty percent of its seats. Today, all but four booths in the dining room are non-smoking. "That change has been in response to changing customer preferences. It wasn't difficult to see that the next logical step was to go completely non-smoking." Although Egelston is sanguine about his decision, he realizes he is taking a risk. "When it comes down to it, it's still a leap of faith - cigarette smoking has been part of restaurant and bar culture forever, and we're trying to alter that culture. I do hope the community and our customers will support this change."

A former smoker himself, Egelston does not want to make smokers feel unwelcome. "This is not some half-baked moral crusade. No one understands the craving for a cigarette better than I do. I used to really enjoy smoking. It's been more than ten years since I quit and I still think of it. Nevertheless, the purpose of this change is to maintain an atmosphere at the Portsmouth Brewery that the greatest number of people can enjoy - smokers and nonsmokers alike."

For more information, please contact Peter Egelston at 603.436.4026, extension 14, or email him at peter@portsmouthbrewery.com.

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