A leading trade body has blasted the government for its lack of support for the industry's Smoking Charter.
Nick Bish, chairman of the Charter Group, said: "We feel deserted. We agreed a Smoking Charter with the Department of Health (DoH), agreed a timescale and targets for improvements and then delivered on our promises.
"Since then we have heard nothing and have had a long-standing appointment to meet the DoH and licensing officials cancelled."
In 1998 the trade and the DoH published the White Paper Smoking Kills. In that document the government pledged full support for the Charter saying: "We applaud these aims and will encourage and support the signatories in achieving them."
The Charter promotes self-regulation on smoking in pubs through good ventilation, the use of signage and no-smoking areas where possible.
According to Mr Bish the government's inaction is directly affecting the trade. He said: "A huge amount of time and money has been invested by operators into being Charter compliant.
"They set off on this road because they felt the government was fully behind the Charter.
"They now say to me 'how can I keep up this effort when the government is giving us no assurances?'"
In a direct address to the government, at a meeting on the industry's progress on delivering better air quality for customers and staff, Mr Bish said: "Please talk to us. This is a success story. You helped set it up but where are you now?"