Hosts must plan for ban warn Eire pubs

Licensees who plan ahead and make the best use of their resources will survive the fall-out from the smoking ban.

That is the message from licensees in Ireland two-and-a-half years after the Republic's stub-out.

Places that were prepared got the extra business - and those that weren't lost their business.​Pat Nolan, editor of Irish pub trade magazine Drinks Industry Ireland.

The MA heard of their experiences during a two-day study tour - accompanied by licensees from England - as part of its Plan for the Ban campaign.

In general, hosts said trade is back to normal after an initial dip.

Oliver Mason, MD of Porterhouse Brewing Company, which operates pubs in Ireland and London, said that trade had "stabilised very quickly"​ as new customers went back to pubs.

Mason urged hosts to make the most of what they have.

A room that housed ventilation equipment was turned into a small outdoor smoking area at the firm's Porterhouse pub in Dublin.

Siobhan Gibney, of Gibney's in Malahide near Dublin, said that trade increased by about 10-15% in the first nine months after the ban, thanks to its outdoor facilities - wall-mounted canopies, gas heaters and TV screens.

Licensees also said that food sales increased after the ban, even if wet sales were hit.

However, Pat Nolan, editor of Irish pub trade magazine Drinks Industry Ireland, said: "Landlocked pubs were particularly aggressively hit by the ban, with nowhere for smokers to retreat to, except the street.​

"Places that were prepared got the extra business - and those that weren't lost their business."

Greene King tenant Paul Harman of the George in Hadleigh, Suffolk, said the trip had given him ideas for his pub in preparation for the ban, such as focusing more on live music and food.

"It has helped me to focus my ideas,"​ he said.

Look out for the full low-down on the Ireland trip in a forthcoming issue of the Morning Advertiser.