Four years on, the smoking ban is popular and defintive claims that it has led to more pubs shutting are unsubstantiated.
By Amanda Sandford, Research Manager of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
England’s pubs and restaurants went smokefree four years ago today. To mark the event ASH has released new data which shows that public support for the measure remains high: 78% of the population are in favour of the law, including almost half of all smokers (47%). Now more smokers support than oppose the law. Meanwhile, an independent review of the impact of the smokefree law found no significant decrease in the number of people visiting pubs or restaurants before or after the legislation.
How very different to the claims made by the Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign that the smokefree law is causing pubs to close and that the way to solve the problem is to bring the smoke back into pubs.
So who exactly would support such a move? And who is behind the thinly disguised campaign to amend one of the most popular pieces of health legislation every introduced?
A handful of MPs have put their names to the ‘Save Our Pubs’ campaign but the main protagonist is the tobacco-industry funded pressure group, FOREST and Japan Tobacco International. The claim that many pubs blame the smoking ban for the loss of business is hardly proof of cause and effect.
Other shaky data were revealed in a briefing on the pub trade pre- and post the public places smokefree law which claims that there has been a “marked decline” in the number of pubs in the UK since the implementation of the smoking bans.
This appears to be an update of earlier research by the same organisation – Corporate Responsibility Consulting – which established a “very close relationship” between the rate of decline of pubs and the implementation of smoking bans.
The authors don’t appear to disclose their funders but they have form. Their client list includes the Tobacco Manufacturers Association. The calls might be new but the claims are as stale as the air in a smoky pub.
These reports use what they call a “subjective” definition of pubs. Such surveys have been known to reclassify pubs as restaurants and so claim they have “closed” as pubs when they are simply selling more food. In fact the business stays open, the staff keep their jobs, the name of the bar doesn’t change.
But why not use an objective measure? After all, we know precisely how many licences were issued and the number of premises licensed for on sale and off sale increased by 5% the year England and Wales went smokefree and has risen every year since.
Of course pubs, like all small businesses have been hard hit by the recession. But the tobacco lobby group assertion that thousands of pubs in England and Wales are under threat of closure due to the smoking ban does not stand up to scrutiny. The British public are enjoying the benefits of smokefree drinking and dining and there is little appetite for a return to the bad old days of smoke-filled pubs.
57 Responses to “Happy smoking ban day everybody! – don’t believe big tobacco’s corporate spin”
Dave Atherton
Here are some polls pre and post ban that beg to differ.
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/latestnews/Capital-bucks-trend-on-total.2487734.jp
52% against smoking ban in Edinburgh. Paid for by Nicotinel who would gain from people giving up.
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2009/08/58-of-tory-members-support-relaxation-of-smoking-ban.html#tp
58% of Tories want the ban amended for all pubs
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/.a/6a00d83451b31c69e20120a7d1a66b970b-pi
73% of Tories want smoking ban relaxed in private members clubs.
28 Jul 2004
More than 80 percent of pub customers in Wales are opposed to a complete ban on smoking in pubs according to a survey carried out for leading independent brewer, pubs and drinks company SA Brain & Co Ltd.
The independent survey of nearly 1,400 customers and staff found that only 19 percent of customers and 12 percent of staff support a total ban on smoking in pubs. There was, however, more widespread support for the provision of no smoking areas for eating and at the bar.
Around 42 percent of customers agreed that no smoking should be the policy in eating areas of the pub. Twenty-two and a half percent support banning smoking at the bar at 22.5 percent and 23 percent of customers said that they would spend more time in the pub if changes to the smoking policy were made. Around 83 percent said that the level of smoke was not a problem in the pub in which they were interviewed.
Of the total number of customers surveyed, 41 percent were smokers.
Retail director for SA Brain & Co Ltd, Philip Lay, said
http://www.sabrain.com/index.cfm?UUID=FFD5C6A8-2B30-CFB5-B7D7FD7905913320
Alas the information has been taken down but that is what it said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6464521.stm 74% want exemptions to the smoking ban
“Three quarters of people in Scotland believe there should be exemptions to the smoking ban, a poll has suggested. The Populus survey, for the pro-smoking group Forest, revealed 74% of 1,004 people surveyed thought private clubs should be allowed smoking rooms.
The Troll....
I think all smokers stink,and it kills you!!!My Grandad was killed by smoke,(actually he was run over,but had a ciggy in his mouth at the time)so I know what I,m talking about.
It,s so much better going to the pub and not having to burn my clothes on the way home,I,m thinking of doing it twice a year now.
Don,t forget the children,as it,s a statistically proven rumour that 93 Million(yes,Million)people die of SHS every minute,so for God,s sake let me walk along the A1 Motorway in fresh air and not be subject to the 3 Metric Tonnes of smoke coming from every car window
Was that OK,Amanda….sorry it,s late.
ASH
Happy smoking ban day! – don't believe big tobacco's spin http://fb.me/14tcawuUf
ASH Scotland
Happy smoking ban day! – don't believe big tobacco's spin http://fb.me/14tcawuUf
Robin Ireland
Forgot to add the link for the great @ASH_LDN report http://t.co/EIRF42C @heartofmersey Don't buy into Big Tobacco's spin