Save Our Pubs & Clubs - join us in Westminster on June 29
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 10:00 
The fight to amend the smoking ban is going to the heart of Westminster.
On Wednesday June 29, two days before the fourth anniversary of the smoking ban in England, we want supporters of the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign to join us at the Houses of Parliament.
Supporters are invited to attend a special reception hosted by The Rt Hon Greg Knight MP (Conservative), Roger Godsiff MP (Labour) and John Hemming MP (Liberal Democrat).
Location: Terrace Pavilion, House of Commons.
Time: 4.00-6.00pm
In advance of the event you will be asked to contact your local MP so you can arrange to meet them at the reception to discuss the smoking ban and related issues.
The aim of the event is to highlight the impact of the ban and demonstrate the strength of feeling that still exists in many quarters.
This is rare opportunity to lobby your MP in the presence of other like-minded people. We need as many people as possible to take part so please support this initiative and encourage others to do so too.
To attend the reception you MUST register in advance.
Telephone Nicky Shepherd on 01223 370156 or email your full name and address to info@amendthesmokingban.com and we will send you a formal invitation.
For further information visit the Save Our Pubs & Clubs website.
See also: Members of parliament unite to amend smoking ban (Forest)
PS: if you have a blog or website and want to promote the event, feel free to add the 'Lobby Your MP' logo (above) to the sidebar with a link to this page.
Reader Comments (15)
There's no way that I can attend this but wondered whether it would be worth writing to my MP to ask him to attend and listen to my concerns by proxy, as it were. Are all MPs expected to be in Westminster at that time?
As with Joyce, just too far away, but I shall make a point of writing to my MP (by letter) in advance and pointing out to her the deficiencies of the Ban.
Good luck.
Fortunately my MP Gareth Johnson, who is Dartford's MP, will support any amendment to the Smoking Ban. He's a very good "chap", firmly belives in CHOICE and supported David Nuttal's 10 minute private bill back in October. Also I have to say he's one of the true Conservatives and a man of his word. If i can I may try and attend this reception.
has anybody thought of the knock-on-effect this has had...the entertainment industry has been hit hard pubs/clubs are no longer booking entertainment its putting us out of a job also...in Northern Ireland I have asked the elected repersentitives who we voted for (i know its a joke)...they have no interest in this i sent them posts from sited to ammend the ban...no.....not intrested........untill they were made to understand many of us in the entertainment industry also work in the "media".....then i just got the usual "party" reply.......so when your in westminister dont forget about Northern Ireland....we are being hit just as hard if not harder than Main Land UK...we are stll part of the UK arnt we?
Sound and light entertainment, Yes I drive a taxi in London and many people in your industry have said the smoking ban has lost them a lot of work and when they do go these places to sing and entertain etc their only half full ,so then the club owners can't afford to pay them what they use to. and so I've been told the famous 100Club in Oxford St is in trouble financially.
It's affected many secondary and tertiary industries.
Take me - a smoker. I used to go out twice a week before the smoking ban with my husband and 3 other couples - that's 8 people in total.
Since the ban we no longer order taxis, no longer pay entrance fees, listen to live music, purchase a new outfit on the high street each week, go to the hairdressers, purchase make-up, shoes, hand-bags; we no longer purchase raffle tickets or bingo tickets, nor do we place money in the snooker tables. The list could go a lot further, but I think you get my drift.
Don't get me wrong - I know we've all saved lots of money since the ban, but we'd return to the hospitality venues tomorrow and spend if we were catered for.
The effects of the ban have had a knock-on effect on the high-street along with many suppliers, accountants and cleaners in addition to the hospitality industry as a whole.
We'll spend our money where we are welcomed and appreciated. We're sure we're not alone in our thinking either. After a hard week at work, there's no way we're all spending our time and money fighting the elements of the weather in the UK. We just want a table to sit at, with an ashtray and drinks to chat around. We're all too tired for anything else.
The new professor Linds Bauld evidence review on the impact on smokefree Laws states:
The recent Cochrane review identified three studies that examined the economic impact of smokefree legislation on the hospitality industry (Callinan et al, 2010). All three found no significant decrease in bar patronage pre and post-legislation,
How can we argue with a professor??
First class idea Simon. Nice one. I have sent your guys an email to get myself on the invite list and have shoved up note up on Liberal Vision website advertising the event and am handing our a teeny flier to the pubs in my immediate vicinity encouraging them to sign up to the event or at least drop a line to our local MP.
@ Jill,
This is how to repel the idiotic, unprofessional "Evidenced Review" by Linda Bauld, who incidentally is a confirmed anti tobacco warrior:-
http://freedom2choose.info/news_viewer.php?id=1232
Send it to your MP and ask him/her if it's worth £4.87 never mind £487,000?
Does no one else get it? It is too late.
Even if the anti smoking policy was relaxed and smokers could go in pubs again, how many would do so? Me and my mates have long since got used to going around to each others place and drinking a few cans, watching vids, smoking fags and having a good time in general at a price that we can afford.
The price of drinks in pubs are ludicrously high. And let us not forget the price that cigs used to be in pub cig machines. It was a total rip off. 16 cigs cost more than the price of 20 in a newsagent? They didn't care about us then did they?
So lot's of pubs are closing. Live with it.
Maybe the no smoking law is only part of the reason pubs are closing?
"Cheers" Ishtiaq
The campaign is asking the Government to review 'the ban and consider a change in the law that would allow separate smoking rooms in pubs and clubs'. Many pubs only have one room. We should be fighting for separate smoking and non-smoking pubs or separate areas in a pubs with good ventilation systems.
Ideally, yes, Chas, but what do you think that the chances of success are when the health zealots are in control of the health dept?
It is in the interests of all publicans to press for any kind of relief - even if it is imperfect.
I agree with Chas above, this proposal would be unfair and unjust to those venues that do not have two rooms, as most pubs were made open plan in the 1980s, freedom of choice should be the point of lobby, either smoking or not.
Ventilation is also up to a standard where it is not necessary to separate smoking areas from non smoking areas, and any lobbying should be for an air quality standard which has been in place for many years in industry for employees, which has been governed by the HSE, the only reason that the HSE were not involved in the smoking ban was that they could not produce epidemilogical evidence that second hand smoke is significantly harmful, so hence the Health act 2006 was used, a lie is a lie is a lie and we must not forget the truth.
Therefore I can not support this event as it is colluding that this ban was brought in for genuine health reasons when in fact is was brought in for social engineering purposes.
Regards Greg Burrows, Dewsbury, West Yorks.
Ishtiaq I totally agree.
It's far too late.
I would not dream of going in a pub again if the ban were amended.
What for ?
Overpriced drinks, crap facilities and giving money to a bunch of landlords that couldn't wait for smokers to be kicked outside as they were expecting hoardes of non smokers to fall into the pubs once the filthy smokers were evicted..
Smokers got NO support from the licensed trade and I hope that all the pubs close except the lovely new smokefree creches that exist now. The anti smokers will have to put up with the few remaining pubs that have a stench of nappies, baby sick, cheap food and body odours.
Many one room pubs used to be two or more roomed pubs. The open plan look more or less dates from the 70's. It really wouldn't take much to reinstate a wall or two.