Ban hits ALMR: half see profits dip 6%+
Wet sales and AWP income hit worst
The damaging impact of the smoking ban one year on is laid bare in a survey of Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) members, exclusively for the MA.
The survey of 14 companies — operating more than 1,300 pubs between them — found 36% saw sales fall more than 6% since the ban. Half said profits have fallen more than 6%.
Wet sales and AWP income has been hit the worst as many traditional beer-drinking, machine-playing customers stay away. A total of 43% of operators said wet sales fell more than 6%, while 36% saw a decline of 1% to 5%.
More than two thirds — 71% — of companies saw machine income fall 6% or more.
"The Government needs to realise that pubs are having a difficult time after the smoking ban," said ALMR chief executive Nick Bish.
But there is some positive news from the survey, with 29% of firms saying food sales are up more than 6% since the ban.
Bish added: "Food-led pubs are stable or showing marginal improvement as people stay longer, and the family trade has probably gone up." In addition, 57% said staff find working in a smoke-free environment "a major benefit".
The survey shows the level of investment made for the ban. More than one third (36%) spent £2,001 to £5,000 per site on shelters and other improvements, 29% spent more than £5,000. A smaller proportion, 14%, spent £1,001 to £2,000. The same proportion spent nothing, and 7% spent less than £1,000.
n City analysis — p12
Other smoking news
n Licensees are urged to lobby their MPs to push for the smoking ban to be reversed to mark its first anniversary.
Campaigner Ann Kingman is asking pubs to display anti-smoke ban petitions for customers to sign, with separate columns for smokers
and non-smokers.
The hosts then post the petition to their local MPs, to reach them on 1 July.
Licensee Alan Giles of Shepherd Neame's Prince of Wales in Herne Bay, Kent, is backing the campaign. "There should be freedom of choice," he said.
Kingman said: "I am not a licensee, just a member of the public who can't believe what is happening."
n The smoking ban must be enforced more "robustly", according to a Northern Ireland minister.
Simon Hamilton said councils are taking "widely different approaches" to enforcement of the smoking ban since it came into force on 30 April 2007.
Outside ban
Most ALMR members think smoking will be banned everywhere outside in the next five years. More than one in three (36%) think an outside ban is "highly likely", while 57% think there is a decent chance. Operators also think enforcement issues will be more prevalent, with 43% seeing the risk as "serious and imminent".
