Food or fags choice for licensees
Licensees are facing up to a stark choice between food or fags following the announcement of a smoking ban in food pubs.
According to The Publican's Market Report 2004, 78 per cent of UK pubs currently serve food. But that number may be about to fall following the publication of the white paper on public health, which is proposing a smoking ban in all pubs that "prepare or serve" food.
Debbie Vince, licensee of the Queen's Head at Stratford in East London, said she would have to stop serving food if it meant that smokers could still be welcome in the pub.
She serves a range of bar snacks, but estimates that more than eight out of 10 of her regular customers are smokers.
"This is a sports pub, and I'd rather have income from the booze than the food. The food will have to go," said Ms Vince.
"I make about 50 per cent gross profit on food, but take into account the extra staff and equipment and you don't make so much."
But Roger Jackson, licensee at the Anglesey Arms in Halnaker, West Sussex, said he would choose to ban smoking if the proposals became law.
"I wouldn't think twice about serving food - the smokers would have to go," he said.
"But I don't see the sense in it. I already have a separate dining area where people aren't allowed to smoke. We police it very well and there isn't a problem.
"If it's anything like the new licensing act it won't happen in my lifetime anyway!"
Alison McKay, who runs the Grey Mare Inn in Bolton, could benefit from the ban as she does not serve food. But she is concerned that the announcement was just a stage on the road to a blanket ban.
"These things come in inch-by-inch, don't they?" she commented. "Soon the smokers will have to stand in the car park. It's bureaucracy gone mad. How far will they go with it, that's the point."
The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) says by proposing to exempt private members' clubs the government has particularly angered the trade.
"If the business raises funds for the Labour Party in the local Labour or working men's club you can carry on smoking, but if you try to run your own business you can't," the BBPA said.
Industry comment:
For:
- Jon Collins chief executive of the Bar Entertainment & Dance Association: "A smoking ban makes sense in food-led venues. However, the situation in a club or bar is radically different with venues aimed purely at adults and designed to allow people to flow around them. These proposals, if sensibly implemented, will allow us to continue to offer the range of facilities needed."
Francis Patton, customer services director, Punch Taverns: "Today's announcement falls broadly in line with our own thinking and gives the industry a clear four-year timescale within which to work. We also feel these restrictions particularly suit the leased and tenanted business model by allowing retailers some degree of choice."
Deborah Arnott, director of Action on Smoking and Health: "If passed into law, the white paper will save thousands of lives every year, as vulnerable people are no longer exposed to dangerous secondhand smoke at work, and as thousands of smokers are encouraged to cut down or quit."
John Sims, former licensee at The Three Fishes in Shrewsbury, which became one of the first smoke-free pubs in the country in 1994: "I am totally in favour of this decision. I banned smoking in my pub as I was sick of all the fog. We lost 30 per cent of our trade overnight, but after three months we got all our trade back."
Against:
- Mike Benner, chief executive, Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA): "These proposals threaten to split the trade, creating polished smoke-free eateries for the middle classes and smoking dens for everyone else."
Anthony Wallis, retail director, Charles Wells: "The white paper prevents effective implementation of the industry self-regulation and goes further than we'd anticipated, and at a quicker pace."
Mark Hastings, director of communications at the British Beer & Pub Association: "In large numbers of pubs where food is a nice-to-have, rather than a must have, this is the perfect incentive to take food out in order to avoid the inevitable commercial damage caused by a smoking ban."
Jonathan Neame, chief executive, Shepherd Neame: "A complete smoking ban in pubs is not the way forward. The industry will get there just as quickly by voluntary methods."
Nick Bish, chief executive of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers: "Ten or 20 thousand pubs who have a modest or recently introduced food business will have to decide whether to give it up and become drinks-only bars."
John McNamara, chief executive of the British Institute of Innkeeping: "The last thing this industry needs is more red tape. It has already made significant progress in improving facilities for staff and customers. This approach is far more effective than the regulatory route."
Related articles:
Smoking banned in most pubs (16 November 2004)
ALMR: pubs facing hard decision (16 November 2004)
Fury over smoking decision (16 November 2004)
