Caroline Nodder: Will new government reverse the march towards an outdoor smoking ban?

By Caroline Nodder

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Smoking ban Passive smoking

Nothing is guaranteed to get the collective goat of the pub sector more than the smoking ban. The mere mention of it can send users of our website...

Nothing is guaranteed to get the collective goat of the pub sector more than the smoking ban. The mere mention of it can send users of our website into fits of apoplectic rage, sparking lengthy debate between those who support it on health grounds, those who say trade has improved in their pub since the ban, and those - notably the most vocal of the bunch - who vehemently oppose the very idea of it.

No doubt the effects of the ban have been similarly variable depending on where your pub is, who your customers are and whether you serve food or not.

So after three years smoke-free how are pubs actually faring? Well there is no doubt that the legislation has changed pubs. Machine income from AWPs is dramatically down, for example, outside areas have needed investment and some pubs with a lack of space to accommodate smoking have suffered as smokers migrate elsewhere.

There has been no widescale helpful influx of new non-smoking customers - although a small trickle has helped some pubs. And the terrible summers of 2007, 2008 and 2009 did nothing to endear new outside smoking areas to smoking pub-goers.

So all in all its been a struggle for the section of the pub market that relied on the incremental spend of regular customers who were smokers but might only pop in for a swift half each day - these people are almost certain to have transferred their allegiance to the supermarket and their own sofas.

Elsewhere, in food pubs things have been improved with customers - even smoking customers - on the whole much happier to dine in a non-smoking environment. On top of this pubs are cleaner, more fragrant, and need refurbing less often than they did when ash and burns could ruin flooring and seating covers in a matter of months.

At the time of the ban we at The Publican had opposed it all the way down the line in preference for a compromise which allowed some pubs to set aside separate spaces for smoking customers. A choice, in other words.

But the full ban came in nevertheless. And while I will no doubt be bombarded with emails and letters for saying this, I speak to a wide cross section of today's pub sector on quite a regular basis and I would stick my neck out and say the vast majority of them wouldn't go back now even if they had the choice to allow smoking again.

However, it was concerning that the health lobby, never a group to let it lie, had been pushing the previous government to extend the ban to outside areas (see News, page 1). This is not a new concept - in the US an outside smoking ban is a reality already in some states - and where others lead the UK quite often follows.

But as with the duty freeze in the recent Budget, the new government has this week reversed the Labour position and confirmed it has no plans to review the smoking ban. This will hopefully scupper the health lobby's plans, and a few Daily Mail headlines into the bargain. Nice work.

Related topics Legislation

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