Smoking campaign group to launch UK tour

Campaign group Smoking Ban Stinks is to set off on a 90 day tour of more than 1,000 UK pubs and clubs to assess the damage being done to the licensed trade as a result of the smoking ban.

The group, which wants to make amendments to the ban, is concerned about the lack of national attention the pub closure "crisis" is receiving. Last year the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) reported 56 pubs were closing a month in the UK.

The Inn The Cold Tour which will start in Coventry at the beginning of March, hopes to assess the impact the ban is having on the trade.

Organiser Mark Harris said: "We want to see first hand what state our pubs and clubs are in. The ban is not completely dire for some establishments, but it is for a lot. I think we will find a lot of pubs on the edge and some of them won't be able to do anything about it.

"You see all these local news stories where people are struggling and no-one is doing anything about it. The main aim is to get some national awareness and publicity. To get politicians to think a bit differently.

"If we're talking politics, we're an apathetic lot at the moment. We don't think we can change much. But maybe we can."

As well as running the Smoking Ban Stinks website, Harris has set up a number of regional Myspace groups under the same name. In total he has 8,000 members, many of them licensees.

"Some licensee have reported a takings drop of around 40 per cent."

'Friends' from his Myspace pages will be joining in on the tour, with many offering accommodation and free drinks to the team.

Harris said: "This will be an exercise in interaction from a social networking site, can these sites serve a more useful purpose than just internet interaction?"