Thanks Vape Club.
After a survey commissioned by the ‘UK’s largest online vape shop’ inspired the headline ‘Call for smoking to be banned outdoors at pubs in UK‘, the pros and cons of banning smoking in beer gardens have been debated on radio and by several local newspaper websites.
The latter all asked the same question, ‘Should smoking be banned in pub beer gardens?’, and quoted reactions from members of the public.
The overall response was actually quite encouraging. There were some voices in favour of a ban but it’s clear that most people do not support a ban on smoking in beer gardens.
But this is a debate that would not be happening had it not been for Vape Club’s survey and the manner in which the results were reported.
Gifted the opportunity to talk about banning smoking outside pubs, ASH wasted no time resurrecting its own bid to ban smoking in licensed pavement areas outside pubs, cafes and restaurants (a proposal Forest helped defeat last year).
On Tuesday, 24 hours after I discussed smoking in pub gardens with presenter Eddie Nestor on BBC Radio London, CEO Deborah Arnott was interviewed on the same programme.
According to ASH Daily News:
On Tuesday, 20th April, Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH, appeared on Radio London to discuss why pavement licences should be designated 100% smokefree. She explained how this will help smokers quit, provide family-friendly spaces, and prevent harm caused by secondhand smoke.
On Friday ASH Daily News included a link to its 2020 briefing on ‘smokefree pavement licenses’ which it described as an ‘important public health measure’:
Examples of councils which have already introduced a Smokefree condition include North Tyneside, Newcastle and the City of Manchester ... If you know of any other authorities with Smokefree conditions for pavement licences please send details to ...
Leaving aside the absurd and frankly dishonest claim that an outdoor smoking ban will help ‘prevent harm caused by secondhand smoke’, I am far less annoyed by what ASH says and does (that’s to be expected) than the open goal presented to them by the ‘UK’s largest online vape shop’.
As I wrote here, the survey actually found very little support among smokers and ex-smokers for a ban on smoking in pub gardens and outdoor seating.
However, the way the result was spun (‘1 in 5 ex-smokers stated that a ban on smoking on pub premises, including pub gardens and outdoor seating would help them quit the habit for good’) put the emphasis squarely on the small minority of ex-smokers who supported a ban.
According to Vape Club MD Dan Marchant:
“It’s clear that local authorities and businesses can be really effective agents of change when it comes to encouraging smoking cessation.”
Has Dan thought this through? I’m not sure he has because there’s every chance that a ban on smoking in beer gardens will lead sooner or later to a ban on vaping as well - not through regulation perhaps but proprietors may well decide that if smoking is prohibited in pub gardens or licensed pavement areas they may as well ban vaping too, especially if the pub is seen as child or family friendly.
As an aside, I really wish more proprietors would promote their pubs as adult friendly places where children are tolerated but not actively welcomed.
In our recent Smoking Room webinar with Antony Worrall Thompson the celebrity chef and restaurateur touched on the issue when he described pubs as places of “adult entertainment”.
Antony added that he didn’t mind children in his pub/restaurant as long as they are well-behaved but it was clear adults are his priority, as well they should be.
Meanwhile the suggestion that smoking should be banned in beer gardens because it might lead to ex-smokers relapsing is one of the most pathetic arguments I have ever heard, as I indicated in my response to the Vape Club survey:
“If ex-smokers are so easily tempted to relapse that’s their problem not the publican’s.”
Using the same argument, serving alcohol in pubs should be banned too in case it encourages people who have quit alcohol to start drinking again.
Or perhaps cafes, shops and restaurants should be forced to stop selling ‘unhealthy’ high calorie food in case people who are trying to lose weight are unable resist temptation.
I could go on.
Thankfully ASH’s shamefully opportunistic attempt - supported by the Local Government Association - to hijack last year’s Business and Planning Bill by plotting with peers to include an amendment that would have banned smoking in new licensed pavement areas was defeated.
It’s clear though that Arnott & Co will never stop lobbying local authorities and government to ban smoking outside pubs, restaurants and cafes so giving them the opportunity to publicly promote the idea again was unhelpful to say the least.
It does however throw further light on ASH’s claim to be a health ‘charity’ rather than the political lobbyists we know them to be.
Banning smoking outside pubs has nothing to do with health. Some people may not like being exposed to a whiff of tobacco smoke in the open air but there is no health risk involved, even to children.
Meanwhile, by making smoking outside pubs an issue, Vape Club has not only done current smokers no favours, the company has arguably put at risk the interests of many vapers too because if there’s one thing I’m certain of it’s that many non-smokers consider smoking and vaping to be pretty similar.
If therefore local authorities and businesses are encouraged to ban smoking in al fresco drinking/dining areas there’s every chance that publicans and restaurateurs will ban vaping too.
It’s true that some devices allow people to ‘stealth vape’ in a way that you can’t ‘stealth smoke’, but is that the future the vaping industry envisages for its customers - vaping reduced to a furtive, semi-illicit activity with consumers trying not to be caught in the act?
Good luck with that.