THE GUV'NOR

Peter Eveleigh

The licensee of the Riverside Inn in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, ponders the Yin and Yang of the smoking ban

Out of the ashes of adversity arise the seeds of opportunity - with apologies to the great Chinese proverb.

While both sides of the debate remain as heated (and irreconcilable) as ever, such discussions have actually raised more questions than they have answered.

For example, why was the Department of Health tasked with this legislation, not the Health & Safety Executive? Or why was air filtration, acceptable to the likes of asthma support groups and the health service itself, so summarily dismissed by our politicians? Also, why has smoking litter become such a target for a fixed-penalty notice, when similar penalties for chewing gum and other litter are far less well reported?

Despite the millions of pounds recently invested to convert to the new Licensing Act and other legislation, larger amounts have arguably been invested in order to retain the accepted majority of our current (smoking) client base. Then the real fun begins for us individual businesses - enforcement. Are we going to see "white van Stan" stopped on the hard shoulder of the motorway; or the harvesting team similarly held up in the wheat field? No. The potential impact of the ban is finally sinking in to our customer bases and the smell of rebellion is in the air.

When the "experts" are already rallying the troops to seek additional restrictions on smoking in open spaces and, indeed, in the home - and also focusing on the possibility of controlling alcohol consumption - perhaps the cold realisation will dawn that a different agenda is afoot; namely social engineering. No doubt some will rejoice in this, for theirs is the Yang.

As for the rest, and particularly the hard pressed, landlocked licensees who could find no reasonable solutions, good luck.