Pubs have sold 175 million fewer pints of beer in the past year as a direct result of the smoking ban, according to market analysts AC Nielsen. Jake Shepherd, AC Nielsen's marketing director, said: "The winter months were particularly bad. Sales fell nine per cent through November to January when smokers would have been reluctant to stand outside in the cold to have a cigarette." Sales of wine were not hit as hard, dropping four per cent after the ban and cigarette sales have dropped six per cent since July 1 last year with smokers buying two billion fewer cigarettes between July 1, 2007 and April 2008. - Observer
Beer and wine bottles should carry graphic images of diseased livers similar to campaigns featured on cigarette boxes in an effort to curb the country's alcohol abuse, the British Medical Association (BMA) will propose this week. As part of the BMA's campaign against "the growing problems of excessive alcohol consumption and of binge drinking in society", other motions to be tabled at its annual representatives' meeting in Edinburgh include calls for the government to make units per drink a mandatory requirement on alcohol labels and on bar taps, and encouraging legislation to prevent supermarkets discounting alcohol. - Sunday Herald
Plans to scale down smoking inspectors in Scotland are to be scrapped after new research suggested a number of pub customers were lighting up during lock-ins. Researchers found that over an 18 month period the law was being breached in a number of pubs, including one instance where an elderly customer was allowed to smoke in the cellar when it was raining. Gordon Greenhill, head of community safety at Edinburgh City Council, said: "Breaches are few and far between due to the overwhelming support for the legislation in the city. However, we continue to remain vigilant and anyone suspecting a possible breach is urged to contact us." Neil Rafferty, the spokesman for smokers' lobby group Forest, said: "The fact that there are lock-ins just shows how stupid and unfair this law is. If people are locking the doors to have a smoke then they are exercising freedom of will." - Scotland On Sunday