A breath of fresh air

Since the Irish smoke ban, trade at pubs has picked up after an initial dip. The findings of MA's visit to Ireland will be reported over the next seven pages. Case studies will show how pubs have fared. Trade experts and the Plan for the Ban team will share their thoughts, followed by the views of UK hosts and operators. First, Pat Nolan, editor of Drinks Industry Ireland, gives his impressions

At the time the ban was introduced, on 29 March 2004, the on-trade was experiencing pressure on sales from a number of separate quarters.

With the increasing sophistication of entertaining at home and home decor in general, a growing drift to the off-trade had developed, taking business from the on-trade.

A beer market that experienced huge on-trade growth in the late '90s, in step with that period's increasing affluence, had well and truly peaked by 2002.

On top of that, price sensitivity had entered the equation, following the changeover to the Euro, and the first cries of "rip-off Ireland" were uttered by consumers, with more than a few eyes turning towards licensees.

Finally, there was a changing demographic that saw a buoyant and highly-affluent youth market moving into marriage, mortgages and baby-making. The smoking ban only served to compound declining on-trade fortunes.

Beer sales - and therefore on-trade turn-overs - began to dwindle prior to the smoking ban's introduction. As one licensee put it, "the ban only accelerated it."

However, demographic change meant that this decline in beer sales was only confined to the on-trade. The off-trade picked up the shortfall - another sign that more people are taking their drink home.

The above licensee's former three-times-a-week customer now comes in once a week, struggling to pay a mortgage that has risen by €200, with no pay rise to match. Fuel and petrol prices have also added to the spiralling cost of living. So the smoking ban has been overtaken by other factors, reducing its importance in determining overall pub business.

Short and long-term effects of the ban since introduction

When the ban was brought in, places that had failed to prepare or make provisions - especially landlocked pubs - found their customers leaving for more comfortable smoking areas elsewhere, while outlets that were ready got the extra business.

Landlocked pubs were hit by the ban particularly aggressively, as the street offered the only retreat for smokers.

Pubs also lost their late-morning coffee custom from nearby offices; coffee sales were reportedly down and many people felt so shy of standing on the street outside a pub at that time of day - especially women - that they stayed away.

Greater Dublin is an ideal example. Its 1,500 licensees comprise 12% of the country's total and serve 36% of its population. The city, famous for its bars, has 7% of the country's public houses, but enjoys 36% of the drinks trade's annual turnover. Reports in Dublin at the time put the decline in trade at 12% to 15% (ensuing reports vary according to the source of research).

For example, the number of pub customers rose by 11% following the introduction of the smoking ban, according to a study of 38 Dublin pubs published recently in the Irish Journal of Medical Science.

The study - with the rather unwieldy title Smoking, Occupancy And Staffing Levels In A Selection Of Dublin Pubs Pre And Post A National Smoking Ban, Lessons For All - found that although staffing levels fell by almost 9% after the ban's introduction in March 2004, the average number of customers visiting pubs rose from 58 to 66 in any hour.

Undertaken by Professor Luke Clancy of the Research Institute for a Tobacco-free Society, in conjunction with University College Dublin's physics department and the Dublin Institute of Technology, the study also found that smokers smoked less while visiting the pubs.

According to Professor Clancy, the findings showed that warnings by vintners of plummeting customer figures and drastic job losses were "ludicrous".

Such findings were disputed by research done by vintners' organisations. No wholly impartial survey of the ban's effects on the licensed trade has yet been undertaken.

In landlocked pubs, the trade noted that turnover was down, with frequent smoking breaks outside affecting the ambience (not to mention sales to group customers).

A noticeable "sucking out" of the atmosphere also occurred when non-smoking customers, abandoned by their smoking friends, eventually decided to join them outside.

On a more optimistic note, it has become quite trendy for two previously unacquainted smokers to begin a romance through sharing a pub's external smoking space.

Recovery on the cards

"The trade as a whole has recovered from the smoking ban," says Senator Eddie Bohan, representative to the Government for the licensed trade. "That's not to say that the ban hasn't hit the trade hard, but people have got used to it - I feel that the trade is on its way back."

Another licensee adds: "The smoking ban is a fact. We must get on with it. Look at what the present market is demanding and what we're able to supply - does it meet the needs?"

In Celbridge, Co Kildare, the creative response of licensee John McGrath was to add an off-licence and a restaurant to offset the

effects of the ban.

Michael Lamb, of Lumville House in the same county, has noticed turnover rising since the ban. But there again, nearby Newbridge town has moved out on top of him, so there may be other factors to consider in that particular equation.

Meanwhile, those with responsibility for sales at Diageo feel that the ban's impact has come full circle. It's reckoned that the ban impacted negatively on Diageo's alcohol sales to the tune of 5% overall. But that effect has probably balanced out in general - some licensees have invested money in their premises and found their turnover growing again.

Litter prosecutions on the rise

In towns such as Kilkenny in the south-east, the habits of people smoking outside pubs mean they are becoming subject to Litter Act prosecutions. More prosecutions are threatened for licensees failing to provide adequate cigarette receptacles, and it's even being mooted that smoking in pub doorways should be made illegal.

Farewell to Stygian gloom

England has a culture of people drinking outside. With the introduction of any ban, customers enjoying a drink on the pavement are likely to increase. Many people head for the front door, so landlords should protect it from the rain and provide heating.

However, the type of English pub that resembles a working men's club - replete with an air of Stygian gloom, where smokers can buy drinks at a better-value price - may not be so easily converted. Such clubs are likely to lose business to those venues that are ready with heaters, tables and canopies.

LVA Chairman Tony Gibney on the ban:

Tony Gibney's advice on the smoking ban is to be prepared. Three months before the ban was introduced he had installed nine gas heaters, operated via the mains supply. The former yard filled with tables and chairs, protected by three canopies.

As soon as the ban was introduced, everyone was able to use the external courtyard. The ban also brought some benefits to the internal area as the eating experience is now more enjoyable in the smoke-free pub. "Some pubs, such as our own, increased their business from 5-15% overall," he comments.

Increased business has occurred at the expense of other pubs and sporting clubs with upstairs bars and no smoking areas, he feels

The Grasshopper Inn, Clonee, Co. Meath

Pub type: A large village pub in an area popular with students.

Action taken: Awnings and canopies have been fitted at the front and back of the pub, providing sheltered seating areas for at least 80 people.

Impact of the ban on trade: Food sales rocketed by 500% after the pub began focusing on food, and simple home-cooked di