Publican prompts smoke ban meeting

MPs will hear appeals for a string of smoking ban concessions for pubs in England and Wales at a meeting prompted by The Publican.​ Following concern that the interests of those small wet-led pubs certain to be hardest hit have been overlooked in representations to Parliament, The Publican approached the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group to set up a special meeting of MPs at which the key issues can be raised.

While the detail of the ban in England and Wales has yet to be confirmed by the Department of Health, MPs will be asked for their support on the following key concessions:

• a year's grace between the release of the guidance for the ban and the start of the ban, to allow licensees to adapt
• some form of tax break or financial help for those pubs that suffer serious losses
• robust government guidelines for local planning authorities to ensure consistency
• the removal of plans to make it an offence for licensees to permit smoking on their premises, or at the very least much lower fines
• the removal of legal obligations to display no smoking signs
• the review of restrictions on outside areas that may have been imposed on premises licences but do not take account of the ban.

Robert Humphreys, honorary secretary for the Beer Group, said: "There is a crucial opportunity right now to deal with these issues and licensees need to grab it. The trade needs to coalesce around these key points if it is to make its case effectively."

Once details are confirmed, The Publican will be asking licensees to write to their MPs urging them to attend the meeting.