Because it's quite feasible to sit in a pub and not be drinking alcohol.
( Moonraker isn't the droid you were looking for, Thu 19 Feb 2009, 19:20, 2 replies)

You are Stuntman Mike
..and I hereby claim my five pounds.

Valid point though. Always found it annoying / boring to be around piss-heads when sober however.
(mymilkshakebringsallthemongstotheyard poison hearts, poison minds - joining hate, Thu 19 Feb 2009, 19:39, closed)

Precisely
I don't drink alcohol. I do, however, like pub food.

I often go into a pub to have anice meal with my girlfriend. Nowadays I go more often than before the smoking ban. Back then, it was quite common for me to walk into a pub - find that the "no-smoking" area was full - and then walk straight out again, because there was therefore nowhere I was able to sit.
(EuroSong I love horse meat: best of all the animals, Fri 20 Feb 2009, 0:26, closed)