Lets Wait For The Smoke To Settle
By Simon Cole

For months there has been speculation and discussion about potential smoking bans in public places in the UK and how widespread any ban on smoking in pubs would be, but even the sternest anti-smoking campaigner will have been taken aback by the recent Government announcement.
From the year 2007, nobody will be allowed to smoke in any public houses – including members bars – with fines of up to £10,000 being enforced upon any premises failing to adhere to the new rules.
But just what difference will the ban make to both the smoking and the non-smoking public? One consistent factor behind the arguments put forward by anti-smoking campaigners has been the problem of passive smoking. Those of us who do not wish to smoke will no longer have to inhale the excess fumes of those who choose to smoke, but the biggest impact will arguably be upon smokers who dismiss their habit as a “social hobby”.
Having to leave premises for a cigarette will in fact make it an anti-social habit and it would appear that these are the people that this law is most likely to persuade to quit. No longer can a smoker have the comfort of lighting up around their non-smoking friends, but they are lumbered with the inconvenience of heading outside – something which will be particularly unappealing in the winter months, which is when the ban will be in its early stages of enforcement.
The nationwide ban has already been in action in the Republic of Ireland for some time, but few could have expected a complete ban in the United Kingdom. At best the anti-smoking campaigners would have hoped for a certain selection of pubs to enforce their own band, but Tony Blair and the Government have taken a big plunge and gone the full distance with the ban.
The most obvious argument is that if it is successful in Dublin, then why can’t it be successful in London or Birmingham? And rightly so. In Temple Bar – the main party district of Ireland – I have witnessed first hand the effects of the pub smoking ban, and there are very few negatives to report. If somebody wants to smoke, they will go outside without a fuss, and without blowing their unfiltered smoke into the lungs of the non-smokers.
One Irish smoker commented “If my friend wants to have a cigarette, I’d rather they had one while chatting to me than had to be unsocial and disappear outside.” A fair argument but these are the people that are being targeted and asked to prioritise between being social and having a cigarette. The Government will be hoping that the most popular decision is to stay in the bar and ignore the desire to light up.
There will of course be those who are more than happy to go outside for a few minutes, and it could be argued that the extra bodies on the street could cause problems with violence from people who are already under the influence of alcohol. But this is not the biggest police worry according to PC David Cole, a Police Constable in Bristol.
“The biggest concern from a police point of view isn’t people out on the street, it’s people who try to stand-up to the laws,” explained PC Cole. “The only worry is that if a landlord tells someone under the influence [of alcohol] they can’t smoke, they may say ‘stop me’ and cause a confrontation.”
“How will the landlord make them? Throw them out? Call the police? It’s these confrontations that are a concern more than anything else,” he added.
In major nightclubs with security this is not a major problem, but in smaller establishments there is a slight potential for confrontation, particularly as it is the establishment itself that could end up with the biggest fine.
There is also the issue of unrest in private members clubs. They are covered by the new laws despite not being open to the general public. But the new measures are there to protect the non-smoking members of the British community, whether they choose to socialise in a public or private bar.
There is undoubtedly a list of arguments against the new no-smoking laws to be enforced from 2007. If there wasn’t, the law would have been enforced long ago. And while at a glance it might seem hard for the authorities to enforce the rules upon pub landlords, the biggest battle of all is likely to be between the landlords and the customers who feel they have the right to stand up to the laws.