One in three pubs to ban smoking at the bar

A
third of pubs in the UK
will soon be the first to ban smoking at the bar, paving the way for pubs to
become smoke-free workplaces.

Five
chains – Enterprise Inns, Mitchells
and Butlers, Punch Pub Company, Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises and
the Spirit Group – announced yesterday that they will make the serving areas
smoke-free in about 22,000 pubs by the end of the year.

The
companies said it was in response to changing attitudes to smoking, and that
within five years, smoking would be barred in 80 per cent of pub space.

The
British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), said: “If a complete ban was
introduced, it would mean the closure of 5,000 pubs an the loss of 75,000 jobs. It would cost the economy
£500m and also £1bn in lost tax.”

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By Michael Millar