The CIEH has responded to a celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson’s campaign to amend the ban on smokefree pubs and restaurants.
Writing in the Telegraph, Worrall Thompson has launched a ‘Save our Pubs & Clubs’ campaign stating that “Tomorrow [1 July] marks the anniversary of the smoking ban in England. As publicans, we believe that its impact in reducing trade has been substantial.”
The CIEH, in conjunction with a number of public health organisations has responded.
CIEH Chief Executive Graham Jukes said:
“Anthony Worrall Thompson and the ‘Save Our Pubs & Clubs’ people are completely out of touch with public expectation. The law has received popular public support and been welcomed by the vast majority.
“Research supports this view. The most recent reliable survey is from British Market Research Bureau which reports that 85 percent[i] of people (smokers and non–smokers) supported the Government making most public places smokefree, including pubs and clubs.
“Almost 80 percent of the adult population does not smoke. A growing and successful pub is more likely to find new customers in that section of the population rather than among the much smaller minority who smoke. The evidence is that many traditional pub users are not put off by being required simply to step outside to smoke. The ONS survey Drinking: adults' behaviour and knowledge in 2008 shows that 79 percent of drinkers said that the smokefree law had no impact on the number of times they went to pubs and 10 percent said they went to pubs more often following the smokefree law.
Mr Jukes recognises that while some pubs have in fact been forced to close probably because people have less money to spend, others have managed to maintain and even increase business.
He continued:
“The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) reported that almost three quarters of pubs which serve food reported growth and only 27 percent a decline. It is also significant that there has been an increase in number of licenses issued to sell alcohol following implementation of the smokefree law in England July 2007[ii].
“For most licensed premises a separate smoking room is impractical on cost grounds and would create an unfair trading environment – the very thing that the licensed trade fought against when the need for this legislation was being debated.
“The smokefree law has been a remarkable success in achieving its objective which is to protect people from harm to health by second-hand smoke. It is well understood and simple to comply with.
“Any move to undermine its provisions or make the regulation of it more complex by the provision of smoking rooms will increase the cost to business and be a serious threat to the health and wellbeing of the public who the law now protects.”
[i] ASH by BMRB Omnibus (45108289-om912a), 1.00-24-03-09 Table 6 Question 6
[ii] DCMS 2008 Licensing Statistics