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Ämne:	[uk] Pubs act to sidestep Irish-style smoking ban
Skrivet av:	wilfried
Tid:	2004-09-12 21:30:53

September 10, 2004
...

Ireland introduced its workplace smoking ban in March, and backed it
up with the threat of a €3,000 fine for publicans who allow customers
to breach it. There has been only one prosecution so far.

The worry for British publicans is the alcohol sales slump, and the
industry is taking measures to ward off an all-out smoking ban on
their turf.

Five of Britain’s biggest pub groups vowed yesterday to introduce a
partial smoking ban in their outlets. The companies, which between
them manage a third of Britain’s 60,000 pubs, have committed themselves
to banning smoking at the bar by 2006 and to making 80 per cent of
their customer space non-smoking within five years. The pact by the
companies behind such pub brands as All Bar One, O’Neills and Two for
One is likely to increase pressure on the rest of the industry to
tighten its smoking rules.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said that 22,000 pubs will
have banned smoking at the bar by the end of this year.

“Clearly, pubs recognise that non-smoking is on the increase and they
want to reflect that. But we also believe in freedom of choice,” said
Mark Hastings of the BBPA.

...

“We are conscious of the effect the ban has had in Ireland, which has
seen a 15 per cent fall in trade,” he said. “If a ban was introduced
in the UK and had the same effect here, it would mean the closure of
5,000 pubs and the loss of 75,000 jobs. It would cost the UK economy
£3.5 billion and the Treasury £1 billion in lost tax.”
...