Smoke-free trials sink Spirit's sales

by Ewan Turney

Managed operator Spirit has offered the Government access to records of its smoke-free trials at food-led pubs, which show a ban would have a devastating effect on many pubs.

Since autumn 2004 Spirit has carried out trials at seven food-led pubs. The switch has been 'reasonably successful' where venues reopened as no-smoking following a refurbishment. But of the other no-smoking pubs, four had seen 'a consistent decline in sales, particularly of drinks'.

Spirit regards results taken from the non-refurbished pubs as a 'more meaningful gauge of commercial performance' when assessing the impact a smoking ban would have on the industry.

The Grange in Chelmsford showed a decline of 15.4% drinks sales for the first four months of the trial.

'It is now recovering in the summer months although this may be because the warmer weather allows customers to smoke outside,' a spokesman said. 'We are continuing to monitor sales and the success of the scheme.'

The Romper in Manchester, which reported strong growth before the trial, suffered a sharp decline of 12.2% in drinks sales for the first six months. Spirit believes its trials show that a ban in food-serving pubs would lead to an increase in smoking at home together with an increased consumption of alcohol purchased at discounted prices from supermarkets. It estimated that a total ban would lead to the closure of 5,000 pubs and the loss of 75,000 jobs. The cost to Spirit would be £20m in the first year alone.

Spirit supports the British Beer & Pub Association's submission urging for a smoking ban to be phased in by the summer of 2010 and allow for separate smoking rooms.

A Spirit spokesman said: 'Our customers and the public have consistently made it clear that they want choice. That means a genuine choice, not a stark choice between drinking and eating, smoking and not smoking.'