Student union's

smoke ban axed by Tony Halstead A ban on smoking at five student union bars at Leeds University has been reversed after takings nose-dived a massive £26,000 in just 13 days. Trade at the union bars dropped by as much as a third, even though the smoking ban only extended through the day and was lifted at 7pm. One trade leader said the figures provide a stark warning of what might happen to many pubs if a mandatory ban on smoking in public places was ever introduced. The university's student council had agreed to trial the scheme for four weeks but have now performed a U-turn, with the ban due to have been lifted on Tuesday. In one outlet, the Old Bar, takings slumped by £15,500 over 13 days ­ a full 36% ­ as even the lure of beer on sale at £1.30 failed to compensate for the ban. Union communications officer Tom Wong said the ban had proved to be poor business sense. "People simply went elsewhere even though beer in the union is only £1.30. We never expected it to have this much of an impact," he admitted. The ban cost the five bars £2,000 in lost takings each day and resulted in hundreds of complaints from student regulars. The ban had been backed by 850 students out of the university's 33,000 total population. Students supporting the ban had complained that the union bars looked little more than smoking dens at busy periods. Newly-created no-smoking areas in the five bars will still operate when the blanket ban is lifted. Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations chief executive Tony Payne said: "While a students' union bar may not always reflect a typical pub, I think it's fair to draw some general conclusions. Many students also use pubs and young people in general make up a sizeable proportion of the pub market. "This shows just what might happen if a smoking ban was ever introduced, especially when you consider a quarter of all pubs in Wales take less than £81,000 per year and a quarter of those in England turn over below £110,000. "I think you would see a lot of closures, especially in more remote areas, because these pubs would not be able to survive such a loss in trade." Payne added: "What is interesting with these campus bars is that the students were apparently prepared to sacrifice cheap beer to continue smoking. "Presumably they went to pubs and paid more for their beer or brought in supplies from the off-licences." Customers favour zoning over total ban Nearly half of Ha! Ha! Bar & Canteen customers favour designated no-smoking areas in the dining section to a blanket smoking ban throughout the venue, an on-line poll has found. Customers are being asked their views on smoking at the food-led Yates chain in an on-going survey on its website. The results so far show that of four options given, 46% favour splitting the bar's dining area into smoking and no-smoking areas, compared to just under a third who want a total ban. About one in 10 want smoking banned in the dining area but not the bar, and 16% believe smoking should be allowed everywhere. Ha! Ha! managing director Rufus Hall said the results "do not provide logic for banning smoking". He said they plan to increase no-smoking provisions in the canteen sections as a result of the findings. Meanwhile, campaigners used national No Smoking Day on Wednesday last week to repeat calls for a ban on smoking in public places. Scotland's chief medical officer Dr Mac Armstrong claimed 50,000 people would give up smoking if it were banned from the workplace, including pubs and bars. The call was repeated by Northern Ireland charities the Ulster Cancer Foundation and Action Cancer, and also by researchers writing in the Medical Journal of Australia, who say Britain lags far behind other countries in protecting its people from the harmful effects of smoking.