Smoking out the truth on the ban - two years on

By James Wilmore

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Smoking ban Late-2000s recession Smoking Public house

In just over a year from now, the government is due to release a three-year review of the smoking ban. For the first time, the full impact the ban...

In just over a year from now, the government is due to release a three-year review of the smoking ban.

For the first time, the full impact the ban has had on business will be examined.

Some licensees will not be around to tell their tale by this time, as the ban speeds up their decline. Others, meanwhile, will tell a different story, of how it has been a challenge overcome and how business is all the better for it.

And next week, as the second-year anniversary of the ban passes, it remains an issue that continues to divide the trade.

For many operators with a decent food offer and outdoor space it has been an opportunity to attract new customers and re-evaluate their business. But speak to others, those who are still trading, and it has been the biggest challenge they have ever faced.

Mark Hastings, communications director at the British Beer & Pub Association, acknowledges the problems the ban has presented, but said there is no point in people "crying over empty ashtrays".

"We always said it would have an impact and would lead to the closure of some pubs, but that all things being equal it would provide new opportunities for a new customer base," he said.

"Given the economic conditions that have prevailed since the smoking ban these opportunities have not always been available and the pressures have increased dramatically."

The bottom line though, as Hastings points out, is the vast majority of the population are not smokers.

Resistance

Smokers may be in the minority, but many have been surprised by the lack of resistance shown by the trade - alhough there have been a few notable exceptions who have put up a fight.

Most recently, the Cutting Edge in Worsbrough, South Yorkshire, opened a smoking ban research centre, in a bid to avoid the authorities. A loophole was spotted in the legislation that allows people to light up indoors for research purposes.

But the experiment was abandoned after Barnsley Council and the pub's owner Punch Taverns advised against the practice.

Eternal smoking ban rebel Hamish Howitt has also continued his battle against the ban. But the Blackpool licensee must now go to Europe if he wants to continue his fight, after being denied the chance for a judicial review over the loss of his premises licence.

Despite the rebels, many find it difficult to argue with the health lobby's cause.

A study last year - which was funded by Cancer Research UK, McNeil, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline - found that the ban, by helping people to quit smoking, would prevent around 40,000 deaths over the next 10 years.

And earlier this month a London School of Economics (LSE) study on behalf of NHS Smokefree, suggested smokers are costing employers up to £2.1bn every year.

The health costs are clear, but what other effects has it had on businesses? Here were look at pubs and pub companies that have seen the benefits and some that have seen the downsides…

Welcoming the 'new breed'

At the Sands End, near Parsons Green in South West London, the fabled 'new breed' of customer has emerged since the ban took effect. Licensee Eamonn Manson said he has seen a major upsurge in the number of people eating out at the pub since the ban.

"I've been behind it from the start," he said. "It's really increased our business as we are food-led. It's brought more people into food-led pubs because previously they would not have wanted to spend £30 on a meal and be surrounded by wall-to-wall nicotine.

"I guess some people still see pubs as somewhere you can smoke, but we see ourselves as much more than that.

"People are always tempted to blame things on the smoking ban, but a lot's happened since it came in, including the recession."

Meanwhile, London brewer and operator Fuller's has also seen a number of upsides from the ban.

"The smoking ban has been a very positive thing for the future of pubs," said Simon Emeny, the managing director of Fuller's Inns.

"We are seeing a different type of customer coming in who would normally go to restaurants, especially women and families."

Emeny said he sees pubs "gradually evolving" and the smoking ban has "speeded up the process of change". He added: "The recession has meant people are reappraising the way they spend their money."

And Emeny dismissed the idea that it is only food-led rural pubs that are thriving, while land-locked town centre pubs are suffering. "Some of our land-locked urban pubs with a good food offer have continued to perform well too," he said.

We've seen a 'double recession'

At the Chesterfield in Newcastle, which is totally landlocked with no outside area, licensee Colin Sidney has seen two major effects from the ban. One is the loss of his OAP customers.

"We used to do a very good afternoon trade with a dozen or so coming in every day, but we don't get that any more," he said. "Some of them had been coming for 30 or 40 years - and they said to me 'I fought for this country in the war, why can't I smoke in your pub?'"

The other effect he has seen is a major drop in his AWP income. "I reckon I've lost between £16,000 to 18,000 in the last 18 months," said Sidney.

Despite all his troubles though, he feels he can still rely on his core customers. "I'm still positive as we have loyal customers and I can still see myself being here in a year's time," he said.

Meanwhile, James Crawfurd-Porter, managing director of Yorkshire-based pub company Tadcaster, suggests community pubs have suffered a type of 'double recession' - with the smoking ban and then the economic recession.

"The smoking ban kicked off the first recession in the community pubs sector," he said. "It has also brought about a cultural shift, and a domino effect, where people are being more attracted by prices in the off-trade. People used to see the pub as an extension of their front room, but that's not the case anymore."

Of Tadcaster's 36 pubs, around 75 per cent are what Crawfurd-Porter refers to as "community boozers".

He said at the time he felt a little "let down" by the rest of the industry which seemed to accept it as inevitable. "I hate government interference anyway and it just seems unnecessary," he said.

However though he cites the ban as still the "biggest single issue affecting community pubs", many of the company's wet-led pubs in the North East have continued to perform well. He added: "We believe we can get through this, our job is to make sure we are still standing."

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