Pubs already ditching cigarette machines

Pub companies are getting ahead of the game by taking cigarette vending machines out of their pubs before they are outlawed by the government.

Welsh brewer and pubco Brains is one of the first to take action by removing machines from the 120 pubs in its managed estate.

Brains retail director Philip Lay said the decision to remove them was "purely commercial".

"They were no longer generating a great deal of money really. We thought the space could be better utilised. They don't represent good value for money - which is a bit contradictory to the message we promote," he said.

It is understood Wetherspoons, while not phasing out the machines entirely, are allowing individual pub managers to remove them if they choose.

Last month The Publican​ reported that MPs passed an amendment to the Health Bill outlawing the machines.

The move still has to go through the House of Lords but it is not expected to face any objections.

Meanwhile Barnsley Primary Care Trust has urged pubs in the area to take action now "to save hundreds of young people from taking up smoking".

But Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations president Dennis Griffiths, who runs the Miners Rest in Barnsley, said taking machines out and selling cigarettes from behind the bar could present a security risk.

He added: "I can't see the sense in wanting to take the machines out and then selling them over the bar."

"The sales for cigarettes in the machines are very, very low now. In most outlets they are minute - they are more expensive in supermarkets and shops.

"It's just for people who run out of cigarettes in the pub. I'd be better off financially by taking it out. It's done as a service and there's no way I will sell out of the back of the bar."