The smoking ban has caused much debate but has yet to have a result which is beneficial to both sides of that debate. The anti smoking lobby will claim a victory for health and a cleaner environment while the pro smoking lobby will argue that it is costing jobs and creating an unfair society. 

It is the opinion of UKPR that the smoking ban should be up to the business sector for businesses and not a legislative by Government. All public buildings should uphold the ban and rightly so. However looking at the industry for public houses and clubs it has had a detrimental affect. 

A large number of publicans are facing closure due to the smoking ban. Combine this with the economic downturn we are experiencing and will do for some time, this has proved to be a time bomb for many small businesses as well as much larger corporations.

Example 1

Mr Bloggs has owned a small back street pub for the last 20 years. He is not a large pub and caters mainly for locals. Over the years it has provided an income that while not making him a rich man has gave him a fair living. He has no garden so is limited to what he can offer customers. No barbeque nights for this pub. Then along comes the idea for a smoking ban and Mr Bloggs knows what it will mean for his business. The larger pub nearby has a beer garden that can be converted to give the smokers an area to go. He is unable to do so. The ban is enforced and over the next few months his customers dwindle. Despite the lack of customers he still has bills to pay and the debt starts to mount up. He has no choice but to sell as the business is no longer viable. The pub is unlikely to carry on as a pub due to the smoking ban and lack of customers so it is bought much cheaper than its value the previous year and converted into flats by a developer. Mr Bloggs was not able to secure any profit as such, as the economy is in the grip of another recession so the developer is the only winner. ( not only has this man and his family lost a business but a home and the local people who once used the premises have lost that part of their community forever).

Example 2  

A large leisure company operates a number of pubs hotels and casinos. Before the smoking ban, business is fair and many of the shareholders enjoy steady profit growth. The few weeks into the ban and profits take a plunge hitting shares hard. None more so than the casino arm of the group. With customers staying at home and betting online as they can smoke and the tax levy that has increased by Gordon Brown the casino has lost out to the tune of £10 million. This has serious consequences for the group who employ over 2000 staff across the country. Jobs must be cut to save money. The dealer in one casino has just bought a flat and is now faced with redundancy which will not amount to much as their employment in the casino is less than 20 months. (The leisure group faces axing as much as 14% staff and making employees who stay take pay cuts to survive. The dealer loses out and is unable to secure other employment to cover the mortgage and is repossessed).

The fist example is a real case and I know the publican personally. He is now living with his brother while his wife and three children have gone to her parents. He is currently working on a casual basis for an employment agency and earns as little as £6.50 per hour. A family have been split up, a business lost through no fault of theirs and the potential for this Husband and Wife to suffer stress and anxiety will continue. I won’t tell you what they think of the current Government, you can probably guess.

The second example is all true except for that of the dealer. Gordon Brown raised the tax threshold on casinos to 40%. With the smoking ban this has had a detrimental effect on the leisure group. A source has informed me that redundancies are imminent. One such dealer has secured a flat some months ago in late 2007. I hope this person does not lose their 1^st home.

In the opinion of UKPR the smoking ban in spirit was a good move for the better health of the nation. Yet the continued reports of anti smoking measures will eventually lead to black market problems and forcing ordinary people into the realm of criminality. This is not common sense. A ban on smoking in all public buildings was correct as well as restaurants. Yet the private sector should have been given their own choice to enforce a ban.

The larger pub chain can have a smoking area that with proper extractor fans that will not infringe on the non smoker. The smaller independent pubs should have been given the choice to be a smoking or non smoking venue. That is common sense and UKPR will strive to reverse this stupid law.