Roll on the smoke ban start date
Short of some unforeseeable cataclysm such as hurricanes destroying pubs in north London, the smoking ban is likely to be the biggest ticket in town next year. So I make no apology for returning to the subject for a second week running.
Last week I arranged to meet a fellow scribe in London. Naturally, I suggested a pub and he was happy to agree as he is also a drinks writer. I chose a favourite haunt, the Lamb in Bloomsbury's Lamb's Conduit Street.
It's a Victorian pub famous for its "snob screens" - revolving glass ornaments above the bar. In the 19th century the screens could be closed so that riff-raff in the public bar couldn't see their elders and betters in the saloon - especially handy if gentlemen were accompanied by ladies other than their wives.
The Lamb is comfortable, with leather benches, photos of music-hall stars of the period, good pub grub and - as it's a Young's house - ale in tip-top condition.
At 4pm on a Wednesday afternoon, the pub was surprisingly busy. Perhaps Christmas is starting early this year: certainly one large group seemed to be rehearsing the festive season in an uninhibited manner. And by 5pm the pub was heaving.
My guest was the noted wine writer Tom Cannavan. For more than a decade Tom has run a highly successful and influential website called wine-pages.com. Together we have spun off a beer site and we were meeting to discuss plans for 2007.
A Glaswegian, Tom has just moved to London. He has never smoked and as he walked in and wrinkled his nose he declared: "Roll on the 1st July!"
Tom has been shocked by just how smoky London pubs are. He dislikes smoking so much, and has to keep a pristine palate in order to taste and evaluate wine, that he stopped visiting pubs in Glasgow. The fug in Glasgow bars was just too much for him to bear.
But since the ban on smoking arrived in Scotland in March this year, he has returned to pubs there and enjoyed the experience. He says the atmosphere is marvellous and, as he also enjoys beer, he can sup a pint without his throat and eyes being assaulted by noxious fumes.
As an ex-smoker, I now find that the smell of cigarette smoke is not only unpleasant but also gives me a sore throat and headache.
The Lamb was so busy that afternoon that I was conscious of the fug. Next to us was yet another large group preparing their tonsils for Christmas. Only a small minority of the group was smoking but the reek they created affected everyone around them.
The worse offender was a solitary male puffing away on a pipe. It's rare these days to see anyone using one, but there he was, like Mount Etna on a busy day, gushing sulphurous clouds into the air.
By 5.30 Tom and I agreed we could take no more and resorted to the street to have some fresh air. He backed up the point I made in this column last week: that a large number of people like him will be encouraged to return to pubs once they are smoke-free. He also made the important observation that many smokers will be encouraged to give up the habit when they are forced to leave their drinks and friends in order to stand in the street for five minutes to grab a cigarette.
It is too early to say whether or not the smoking ban in Scotland has hit trade. But US and Irish evidence shows that, following the introduction of their smoking bans, trade has picked up after an initial downturn.
I left Tom and travelled to east London for a football match between West Ham United and Wigan Athletic. The game was terrible, the Hammers lost and two men nearby spent the entire 90 minutes smoking, the wind wafting the fumes into my face.
I don't know if football grounds constitute a "public place" where smoking is concerned. If they are, I echo Tim Cannavan's words: roll on the 1st July... in spades.
www.beer-pages.com
