Pubs plan to tear up their menus

One in five pubs currently serving food will shut down their kitchens when the ban on smoking in food pubs is finally introduced.​ With the government's halfway-house plans for a smoking ban now given the green light, the unintended consequences of the proposals have been laid bare by The Publican Food Report 2005.

Questioned before the government's policy was confirmed last Wednesday, 20 per cent of licensees said they would stop selling food if it meant they could continue to allow smoking in their pub. The research suggests as many as 10,000 pubs would prefer to throw out food, rather than cigarettes, following a ban.

Two out of three pubs (65 per cent) serving food said they would definitely go ahead and ban smoking, while 15 per cent would not reveal their plans.

Only one in four pubs (25 per cent) said they supported the "smoking in pubs which don't sell food" compromise announced by the government at all. Two thirds (65 per cent) said they did not expect to see a significant rise in food sales as a result.

Licensee Vicki Sinclair, of the South Devon Inn in Dawlish, said she would throw out the food from her pub if the policy now becomes law.

"We are a seaside pub and during the summer we do well on food, but a lot of our regulars are smokers so we will have to give up food," she said. "I'm very angry that we are being dictated to like this."

Keith Gowthorpe, licensee at the Woolpack, Stanground, near Peterborough, a traditional wet-led pub, said: "We would suffer a lot more if we stopped smoking rather than food.

"Giving up food is a necessary measure to keep the pub going as a community focal point. I'm giving people the choice - it's what village life is all about."

Stakeholders from all sides are condemning the policy - and have said that the battle to have the policy dropped in favour of action that gives the licensed trade a level playing field had still not been lost.

To date only Punch Taverns has come out in support of the proposals, claiming they represent "the next best thing" for the pub trade if it can't set its own rules (see below).

The Publican Food Report will be published in full next month.