Drinking at home blamed for downturn in trade

A growing trend across Europe for drinking at home, and not smoking bans, has been blamed for the downturn in pub trade.​ A report, presented at the Smokefree Europe conference in Luxembourg this week, suggests the economies of countries that have outlawed smoking in public have not been adversely affected by the move.

Instead it suggests the economic downturn is due to a rise in the number of people choosing to drink alcohol at home.

Luk Joossens, advocacy officer for the Association of European Cancer Leagues, compared statistics from regions that have introduced smoke-free legislation, and compiled new data on drinking trends from across Europe.

"Tobacco companies are at pains to show that smoking bans in bars and restaurants have a negative impact on business and lead to drops in sales and job losses," he said.

"But rigorous analysis of studies from Ireland, New York, British Columbia and other places shows that smoke-free legislation does not damage profits."

He claimed that in some places banning smoking could even have a positive economic effect.

"The main argument used by the tobacco industry is that drinking and smoking go together," Mr Joossen added.

"If that is the case one would have expected a ban on smoking in pubs to affect Ireland, as the Irish drink more in bars than any other European nationality.

"But the evidence shows the ban did not affect Ireland's bar economy.

"In fact, using objective measures such as till receipts and peer reviewed research, it is clear that going smoke-free has not damaged the economy of any country examined so far."