Drink Talking: Lorna Harrison

The government's proposals on smoking ignore all the improvements and effort the trade has made to compromise says Lorna Harrison, Editor-in-chief of The Publican.

What I used to loathe about pubs was the stench of beer and smoke as you opened the door, the general lack of cleanliness and the struggle to get a decent bite to eat.

The industry is incredibly proud of the fact that those days are long gone. A huge leap forward in standards and professionalism over the past 10 years has seen the rebirth of the great British pub.

As well as better service, a broader range of drinks and some great food, the main difference in pubs today is that they are noticeably cleaner and fresher. The lighter, brighter environment has brought with it a shake-up in the customer base, with more women, couples and families now visiting the pub than ever before.

The pub environment is undoubtedly more pleasant and, from a woman's point of view, thank goodness the days when you'd get a dozen pair of eyes burn into you as you walked in alone are almost gone.

Or are they? The government's proposals to back smoking dens as opposed to well-ventilated, well-regulated pubs is a shock, to say the least. After all the work put in by the industry over the past five years, this proposal takes an almighty step backwards.

Pubs will have to choose between smoke or food. Does the government really want to see pubs dropping their food offering to accommodate smokers at a time when the industry is being encouraged to combat binge-drinking?

And what about the staff? We have been led to believe that government action would be taken to protect the health of workers. Indeed, at The Publican Conference on November 4, Deborah Arnott, director of ASH (Action on Smoking & Health), dismissed a five-year plan by leading pub operators which aims to ban smoking at the bar and within 80 per cent of the floorspace.

Even Deborah must agree that this option is preferable to a two-tier system of very smoky pubs and non-smoking pubs.

There have been so many good solutions put to the government by the industry to combat the smoking problem.

It's a sad day for pubs to be presented with these latest government plans which dismiss the major advances that have been made to date and have the potential to send us back into the dark ages.