Relax the smoking ban, says SOPAC

The new issue of The Publican's Morning Advertiser is out today.

It features a four-page cover wrap promoting the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign that was set up by Forest in the aftermath of the smoking ban.

Inside there are two pages of editorial that include a topical photo of Nigel Farage at the launch of the campaign in 2009.

To read it download the file here.

Inside the magazine is an additional three-page feature that reads:

Keeping tabs on the ban

Artist and smoker David Hockney once said, “A pub is not a health club”. And, according to Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest which runs the Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign [SOPAC], “If the government can ban smoking in every pub and bar in the country they can also dictate people’s eating and drinking habits. Long-term that could have an enormous impact on the hospitality industry.”

The Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign was set up in 2009 to campaign for an amendment to the legislation so that pubs would be given the option of having a separate well-ventilated smoking room.

“This policy is quite common in mainland Europe, for example, and it seems to work well because it gives everyone – customers, landlords, even staff – a choice,” says Clark, adding that he thinks it is “extraordinary” that the government has not carried out a comprehensive review of the impact of the smoking ban.

“Politicians and public health campaigners quote reports that suggest that heart attack admissions to hospital have come down since the smoking ban, but these reports have been discredited because heart admissions fluctuate and official figures show they were coming down well before the ban,” he says.

“Of course, a great many people, including customers and staff, prefer a smoke free environment and we respect that. We’re not asking for the ban to be repealed, just amended to give the industry and their customers, many of whom have deserted their local pub in the wake of the ban, some degree of choice.”

With this in mind, the Publican's Morning Advertiser (PMA) asked Forest a range of questions to help shed light on the core issues of which the pub trade should be aware.

PMA: How has the recent uplift in interest surrounding UKIP thrown the smoking ban back into the spotlight?

Forest: In the recent local elections UKIP secured almost one in every four votes cast (24%), winning 147 council seats, up from eight in 2009. Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme before the elections, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said he wanted to amend the smoking ban and allow separate designated smoking rooms, the same policy advocated by the Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign.

Farage’s comments provoked a storm of comment. Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston subsequently warned her party against trying to outflank UKIP as the party of ‘booze and fags’. The truth is a great many people – especially those who enjoy a pint and a cigarette – feel disenfranchised from the political system. Successive governments have slowly turned the screw on their habit and made it difficult, if not impossible, to enjoy a relaxing evening in their local pub.

Nigel Farage’s comments about the smoking ban, and his obvious love of a beer and a cigarette, have clearly not done UKIP or their leader any harm. This has not gone unnoticed in Westminster and we now have a great opportunity to have a national debate about the ban and, more important, how to secure the future of Britain’s ailing pub trade.

PMA: What can licensees do to show their support for an amendment to the ban?

Forest: We would encourage licensees to visit the Save Our Pubs and Clubs website and register their contact details. We can then alert them to the latest news and developments. They could host events, with our assistance, to help promote the campaign.

We can supply tools – window stickers, beer clips, beer mats, posters – to help promote the campaign via the local media. They could also invite customers to sign a petition to amend the ban. It’s important too that they contact their MP to explain why, in their opinion, the smoking ban should be amended.

PMA: How might the Localism Bill affect restrictions on smoking and how this can specifically affect the pub industry?

Forest: Even under the Localism Bill councils don’t have the power to enforce smoking bans in outdoor areas, except on council property. The Bill does however give local authorities greater responsibility for public health and we are concerned that some councils may use this as an excuse to discourage smoking in outdoor areas such as parks, beaches and around public buildings, including pubs.

The threat may be small at present but it’s something the pub trade needs to be aware of and monitor because such policies have a habit of escalating very quickly, especially if a rogue councillor gets a bee in his bonnet about a particular issue. The industry has to be united in its opposition to further restrictions on smoking around hospitality venues.

PMA: In an ideal situation, what would be the outcome for the Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign?

Forest: In a perfect world customers would have a choice of smoking and non-smoking pubs that would reflect customer demand. A ‘smoking pub’ would have modern air filtration systems so we are not advocating a return to the days of smoke-filled pubs.

An acceptable compromise would involve a relaxation of the ban that would allow separate, well-ventilated smoking rooms in pubs and bars. This would bring the UK into line with many countries in mainland Europe where smoking rooms work well and offer everyone – customers, proprietors and staff – the choice we are denied in the UK.

Our goal is greater choice for all. We have no problem with no-smoking pubs, we simply want publicans to have the option to introduce a smoking room if there is sufficient demand and it would help their business.

In difficult economic times an amendment to the law would give the pub trade a significant boost. Given the fierce debate that would inevitably take place, this could generate huge interest in Britain’s pub culture. The trade should support the opportunity to sell itself as a forward-looking industry that seeks modern, technological solutions to issues such as smoking in public places and embraces all potential customers, whether they be smokers or non-smokers.

This is also a sociological issue because loneliness is a major problem in society, especially amongst the elderly. A lot of smokers, especially those who were used to going to the pub for a pint and a fag, now stay at home, often on their own. The pub industry should be fighting to entice them back, not just for the good of their business but for the good of society. One way to get them back is to offer comfortable smoking rooms where they can drink and smoke in a sociable environment.

PMA: What’s the next best option to an amendment to the legislation?

Forest: We will never stop campaigning for an amendment to the ban – too many people feel the legislation is excessive and unfair – but the Government should at least relax some of the petty regulations on outdoor smoking shelters. To insist that outdoor shelters are 50% open to the elements is petty and spiteful. If they have the space, publicans should be allowed to erect proper smoking rooms, not shelters, outside their pubs. There is no good reason why they shouldn’t be allowed to do this.

PMA: What sort of time frames is the campaign working within?

Forest: We are currently looking no further than the next general election. If the leading parties want to capture some of the ground they have lost to UKIP one area they should look at is the smoking ban. Our target is to convince at least one mainstream party to agree to review the impact of the smoking ban and include that commitment in their manifesto. Obviously we would welcome the support of the pub trade.

Beyond that, our hope is that whichever party is in government will review the impact of the ban. The review should include a public consultation so that all stakeholders, including the ordinary pub goer, can make their views known.

PMA: Could UKIP publicity potentially harm the pub trade’s credentials, or help it?

Forest: UKIP’s support for an amendment to the smoking ban and Nigel Farage’s very obvious love of a ‘pint and a fag’ can’t do the trade any harm. It’s certainly a welcome relief from all those politicians and parties who are forever telling us how much to drink or what we should eat.

It would be unwise however for any industry or campaign to align itself with any political party because that could be counter-productive and would almost certainly alienate representatives or supporters of other parties.

The Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign welcomes Nigel Farage’s comments about the smoking ban. We hope that it will lead to a long overdue debate about the impact of the ban and the need for an amendment to the legislation. More important, we hope it will generate a national discussion about Britain’s pub culture and what can be done to revive an industry that has faced enormous problems in recent years.

PMA: Is there a possibility of smoking being banned in beer gardens and outside pub areas? Explain more about the potential for further threat to the industry.

Forest: The previous Labour government was committed to reviewing the impact of the smoking ban in 2010, three years after the ban was introduced in England and Wales in 2007. Although it would have given opponents of the ban an opportunity to highlight the negative impact of the legislation, there was concern that the ‘review’ might prompt an extension of the ban to outdoor areas – entrances and beer gardens, for example.

In the event the Coalition Government chose not to review the impact of the ban and the threat of the ban being extended to areas outside pubs has receded. The threat hasn’t gone away, however, and the hospitality industry shouldn’t be complacent. If the smoking ban was extended to outdoor areas it could drive away many more customers and provide the final nail in the coffin for many pubs that have adapted, often with difficulty, to the smoking ban.

It would also be a kick in the teeth for all those businesses that have spent large sums of money creating half decent outdoor areas where customers can smoke in semi comfort. No-one should doubt the determination of the tobacco control industry to drive smoking – and smokers – to the margins of society. Inevitably that has an effect on Britain’s pubs. The industry should be aware of the threat and must be united and ready to act if the threat becomes reality.

PMA: Do you have other message for the pub trade?

Forest: We lost the battle for exemptions to the smoking ban because the pub industry, the BBPA in particular, decided it wanted a level playing field across the hospitality sector and wouldn’t support an exemption for private members’ clubs.

The pub trade has to understand there can never be a level playing field, not even within the industry. Not every pub has space for a separate smoking room, or even a comfortable outdoor smoking area, but who wants every pub to be the same? The trade must embrace diversity, and that includes a range of smoking policies (including a comprehensive ban) that can be adopted according to the wishes of the publican, his customers and his staff.

Above all, the trade should take a stand on this issue because the legislation represents exactly the type of excessive regulation the industry should oppose. It’s never too late to amend a bad law and it’s not too late to relax the smoking ban.

Chivas Regal to sponsor whisky cocktail reception at Forest Freedom Dinner

Delighted to announce that Chivas Regal is once again supporting The Forest Freedom Dinner.

Prior to a three-course dinner at Boisdale of Canary Wharf, guests will be invited to join Boisdale MD Ranald Macdonald and me for a Chivas Regal 12 year whisky cocktail reception on the smoking terrace overlooking the fountains of Cabot Square.

Speakers at the event on Tuesday July 2 are Mark Littlewood, director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, and Lord Bell, former political advisor to Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and F W de Clerk, among others.

There will be live music as well so it should be a great night. Tickets can be purchased online here.

The two faces of Norman Lamb MP

H/T Angela Harbutt

See also Norman Lamb: perfect example of the genre (Dick Puddlecote) and Norman Lamb: Doh! (Liberal Vision)

'Tobacco smoke biggest home pollutant in Ireland' – the truth behind the headline

'Tobacco smoke is biggest home pollutant in Ireland' screams a headline in today's Irish Times.

It's based on a study that compared the impact of tobacco smoking in the home with households that use coal, wood and peat for heating and gas for cooking.

As always there's good news:

Concentrations of air pollution in homes using coal, wood, peat and gas for cooking were low, and mostly well within health-based standards.

And bad news:

The researchers concluded that “exposure to environmental tobacco smoke represents the greatest impact on health from combustion derived air pollution in the home”.

But of course.

[Researchers] then went on to state that the exposure of non-smokers to ETS in the home accounts for a health burden that is “broadly comparable to that currently experienced in both countries from road traffic accidents and there is a real need for public health policy and research professionals to develop interventions to address this”.

See: Tobacco smoke is biggest home pollutant in Ireland

What the Irish Times didn't mention is this. The study was conducted on the following sample group: 20 households that used peat as heating fuel, 20 that used coal, 20 that used wood, 20 that used a gas stove to cook, and 20 that had at least one adult resident smoker (with no other combustion source present).

Of the 20 homes that had "at least one adult resident smoker", eleven were in Galway and nine in and around Aberdeen.

In other words, the claim that 'Tobacco smoke is biggest home pollutant in Ireland' was based on a sample of just eleven households in one Irish city.

See Indoor Air Pollution and Health.

Ignoring this the Irish Times notes that 'the private home remains a last bastion of privilege for smokers' before adding:

[The] report recommends that there should be a co-ordinated national campaign to educate smokers and non-smokers about the health effects of environmental tobacco smoke in the home ...

The report’s authors have called for improved national survey campaigns to determine what proportion of the population is exposed to environmental tobacco smoke at home.

Their recommendations include a co-ordinated national campaign to educate smokers and non-smokers about the health effects from smoking at home and the promotion of smoke-free homes.

Well, we all know where this is going.

How ironic that my Forest colleague John Mallon is currently on tour in Ireland warning people about "creeping prohibition".

See: Road to Prohibition – part one

It's Monday so it must be ... Tralee

Forest Eireann's 'Road to Prohibition' tour has reached the south west of Ireland.

Beginning in Cork last Wednesday, our representative John Mallon travelled to Waterford where he was interviewed by the local radio station WLRFM.

He then moved on to Tipperary and Offaly for interviews with Tipp FM and Midland Radio respectively.

Today he's in Tralee for an interview with Radio Kerry and tomorrow he'll travel to Limerick and Ennis.

After that he'll be in Galway (Wednesday), Sligo (Thursday) and Donegal (Friday).

The tour will finish next week with two days in Dublin. (I've just booked my flight. Should be fun!)

As you can see from the map above, the 'Road to Prohibition' tour will have covered most parts of the country.

So far it's not been entirely plain sailing. As I reported last week the head of news at KCLR in Kilkenny refused to interview John because 'smoking kills' and Forest is supported by the tobacco companies.

In addition an interview with the Irish Examiner was spiked by the editor, as John explains:

Last Wednesday I did a long interview on creeping prohibition with a journalist from the Irish Examiner. The man wrote up the piece, including my observations on the attacks on other lifestyles, but the editor decided not to publish it and instead, this weekend, that paper’s editorial screams, Tobacco saga must inform obesity war.

Inside a report is headlined, 10% tax on junk food to tackle obesity and elsewhere another article informs us that, Foods marketed as ‘healthier’ could lead to weight gain: study.

Nevertheless we are still getting a fair number of interviews so hats off to John for taking on a difficult challenge.

Click here to read part one of John's tour diary. Comments welcome.

Legendary watering hole for sale

Further to my recent post about the Mason Arms (above) in South Leigh, Oxfordshire ...

I have received a note from the agent selling the pub. He read my comments and thought I might be interested in the following:

The Masons Arms in South Leigh – the first pub in Oxfordshire to be prosecuted for disregarding anti-smoking laws – has been put on the market by larger than life owner Gerry Stonhill.

Described by Raymond Blanc as his all time favourite pub and awarded 20 out of 20 by Marco Pierre White, the legendary watering hole draws celebs from all over the country and is a particular favourite of the motor racing fraternity.

Complete with its own helicopter pad, the Masons Arms is on the market with Colliers International at £895,000 freehold.

According to hotels director Peter Brunt the unique pub represents one of the most exciting pub opportunities for years.

Peter Brunt said: “The Masons Arms is a privately owned and personally run thatched pub close to Oxford boasting trading areas of tremendous character and a memorably eccentric owner.

“This foodie haven had received ringing endorsements from some of the biggest names in the business - one look at the website will give prospective purchasers an idea of the calibre and quality we are talking about.

“The Mason Arms was run in a very individual - probably unrepeatable - style by our client Gerry Stonhill but all the fundamentals for a fabulous business are there in spades.”

The first pub landlord in Oxfordshire to be fined for flouting the smoking ban was fined £5,750 and famously invited Tony Blair to stick his anti-smoking laws.

Peter Brunt continued: “The Mason Arms just oozes character and appeal with its two huge fireplaces in the main bar area, heavily beamed ceilings and with lots of interesting nooks and crannies for customers to enjoy.

“The particular paraphernalia that our client liked to have around him restricted the capacity to about 60 covers through the bar and restaurant but there is clearly scope for many more. South Leigh is a fabulous location to support a quality inn.”

"Gerry bought the Mason Arms 18 years ago and has now decided the time has come for him to retire.”

Situated in a very favoured location north west of Oxford with easy access from the A40, the Mason Arms is a large, attractive building with its own helicopter landing area for particularly well heeled guests, with plenty of car parking, unexploited gardens and plenty of room for further development.

Believed to be a former farm house dating from the early 1600s, the Grade II listed Mason Arms is a two storey building constructed of limestone beneath a thatched roof.

There is plenty of space at first floor level for letting bedrooms although only two were offered and the extensive range of outbuildings offer tantalising development potential.

Part of the range of outbuildings to the rear, the owners’ cottage comprises a large sitting room with open fire and kitchenette, bedroom and bathroom.

Apparently Dylan Thomas wrote a large part of Under Milk Wood while living in South Leigh and during that time made good use of the Mason Arms.

Peter Brunt concluded: “The sense of the possibilities at the Mason Arms are apparent as you enter the bar with its flagstone floor and the enormous fireplaces. There is an atmospheric restaurant in two sections with about 60 covers scope for more.”

I was gutted to miss out on dinner at the Mason Arms after it closed last month. I am even more gutted that I can't afford to buy it and employ someone (who knows what they're doing) to run it while I potter around with a pint in one hand and a cigar in the other.

Then again, if it was that easy Gerry wouldn't be selling. I have enormous respect for publicans and restaurateurs, especially those at the top of their profession.

The pressure of having to 'perform' day in day out and maintain the high standards that customers expect (and pay for) must be pretty intense.

Everyone has off days but in the hospitality trade they can destroy even a well established business.

Think I'll stick to running a tobacco lobby group. No pressure there!

PS. Spoke to Gerry last week and invited him to The Forest Freedom Dinner on July 2. Tickets available online but hurry, they're going fast.

Below: the very individual Gerry Stonhill at the Mason Arms

Lamb slaughtered

Dick Puddlecote has written a follow-up to my post about health minister Norman Lamb.

See Norman Lamb: Perfect example of the genre. Now that's what I call a Sunday roast.

Sad, really. By all accounts Lamb is a fine constituency MP. Nor is he a bad bloke. Far from it.

A few years ago I shared a platform with him at a Westminster Health Forum event on alcohol. I described it - and Norman Lamb - thus:

The first session, chaired by Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb MP, began on cue at 9.05 and finished, on schedule, 40 minutes later. There were four panellists - Professor Sir Charles George (British Medical Association), Cathie Smith (British Institute of Innkeeping), the rather fearsome Professor Mark Bellis (Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University), and me ...

I was the last to speak ... In my allotted time I expressed scepticism at the extent of Britain's "binge drinking culture" and the ever-changing definition of what constitutes "binge drinking". I also voiced concern that if the scale of the problem is exaggerated, then the reaction to the problem will also be exaggerated (eg Boris Johnson's booze ban).

Alcohol, I said, is a legal consumer product. (Sound familar?) Adults have every right to purchase alcohol, to consume alcohol, and to enjoy alcohol. People have every right to "binge drink" or get drunk, if they so wish. And if, when they get drunk, they become boorish or bad-tempered, fall asleep in their chair or wake up with a hangover, they have every right to do that as well.

What they DON’T have the right to do is to become violent or aggressive or threaten people and damage property. But we already have laws – and a police force - to deter that sort of behaviour, so I see no need for yet more rules and regulations. Or to tar all drinkers with the same brush.

The audience (a mixture of MPs, peers, civil servants, health professionals, PR execs and people from the drinks industry) seemed a bit non-plussed. When I confessed (shock horror) to being an occasional binge drinker myself (according to government guidelines) there wasn't a murmour - not even a titter.

It wasn't my best performance but I must have made some impression because Norman Lamb prefaced his closing remarks by saying, "Simon Clark issued a challenge". (Challenge? I'd hardly started.)

Inevitably, though, he concluded by saying that the evidence (of the harm allegedly caused by binge drinking) supported a "powerful case for society to intervene". (Funnily enough, he said much the same in his opening remarks so no-one can accuse him of inconsistency. A decent chap but better, perhaps, if we'd had someone more impartial in the chair.)

Full post: Driven to drink (Taking Liberties, October 22, 2008)

No fairytale ending to my dream of being Scottish (or Farage's visit to Scotland)

I have been following the fallout from Nigel Farage's visit to Scotland.

But first, some background. As I have mentioned before, my family moved to Scotland when I was ten. I had six months at a local primary school, six years at secondary school in St Andrews, and four years at university in Aberdeen. I then lived and worked in London for 13 years before moving to Edinburgh for six and a half years (1993-1999).

My maternal grandmother was originally from Bannockburn and when I was at school in Maidenhead (ie before we moved to Scotland) I told everyone I was Scottish, to the obvious disbelief of my classmate Duncan Macintosh.

Ignoring him I wore my Scotland football shirt with pride when Scotland lost 4-1 to England at Wembley in May 1969, a week or so before we packed up and headed north.

I can't tell you how excited I was to move to Scotland. I'd never been north of Watford Gap so when we boarded the car-sleeper train at the old Motorail terminal in Kensington it was the start of a huge adventure.

We arrived the following morning in Perth. The sun was shining as we drove to our new home overlooking Dundee and the River Tay.

A day or two later I enrolled at the local primary school. My new classmates must have been sceptical about my Scottish credentials because on my first day I was asked to recite "It's a braw bricht moonlicht nicht".

I did my best but from that moment I realised I was ... English.

Actually, I didn't mind. Being English in Scotland in the Seventies was no big deal. I don't remember it ever being an issue.

Fast forward to Edinburgh in the Nineties and the atmosphere had changed. I experienced frequent anti-English sentiment.

The Scottish media in particular was full of it. Whether journalists were reflecting or leading public opinion, I don't know, but as someone who reads several newspapers every day it wore me down.

Two episodes stand out. (I have written about this before so apologies for repeating myself.)

In 1994 the Rugby Sevens World Cup came to Edinburgh. England rugby captain Will Carling was a hated figure in Scotland but the sevens team featured none of the big name players who played for the Five Nations team.

Despite that, every time England walked out at Murrayfield, the home of Scottish rugby, they were booed mercilessly by a remarkably hostile crowd. Bile rained down from the stands. (As it happens England won the tournament so it may have helped!)

Two years later, at Euro 96, the England football team famously reached the semi-finals. One newspaper (the Scottish Daily Mail) ran an article with the headline 'Why we hate the English when they're winning'.

It wasn't tongue in cheek. It was poisonous and there were plenty more articles like it. Among other things, England fans were castigated for waving the flag of St George as if this was nationalism gone mad.

In fact, Euro 96 was the first time I can ever remember England fans using the English flag en masse. Prior to that they always brandished the Union flag and, guess what, they were criticised in Scotland for commandeering the British flag in the name of England.

So it was alright to wave the saltire but not the cross of St George, and it was OK to have pride in being Scottish but not in being English.

In my experience most of this hatred and hypocrisy came from the Barbour-jacketed middle class. Typical of the type was a solicitor I met socially via a friend.

He was shortly to become a partner at an Edinburgh firm but could barely bring himself to speak to me or my English friends. He hated England so much he refused to go on holiday there – not even a weekend break.

Bizarrely the animosity seemed to get even worse after devolution in 1997. I realised I no longer wanted to live in Scotland and started looking for a job in London. (That's how I came to work for Forest.)

Ironically my wife is from Glasgow which makes my children half Scottish. They were both born at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. I support a Scottish football club and I love visiting many parts of Scotland, the Highlands in particular.

I am a regular visitor but as things stand politically I have no wish to live there again.

Anyway, that's the background to my reflections on Nigel Farage's unhappy visit to Scotland this week.

I say unhappy but, for a moment on Thursday, I thought it had gone rather well. Nigel had been shouted down by a handful of protestors, forced to retreat to a pub, before being driven away in a police van for his own safety. Allegedly.

Stories emerged of the UKIP leader laughing at these mindless bigots and with first minister Alex Salmond refusing to condemn the extremists the whole thing was a disaster for the independence movement.

But – and I say this with a heavy heart – Nigel couldn't resist putting the boot in. Instead of being statesmanlike, he stoked the fire and accused the protestors of being "yobbo fascist scum". He also said the incident the previous day was "deeply racist" which isn't true.

He then put the phone down during an interview with BBC Radio Scotland, describing the questions as "insulting".

Having occupied the moral high ground the previous day, Nigel threw it away by using language and hyperbole similar to his opponents.

Salmond was off the hook and the story was all about UKIP and its leader instead of the extremists who were attacking him.

Yesterday I heard Farage vow to return to Scotland. I admire his determination not to be intimidated but he has to look at the bigger picture.

Polls suggest that, by a substantial margin, the majority of Scots don't want independence. At the same time, in my experience, they don't want English politicians telling them what to do or how to vote.

David Cameron understands this, hence his current low profile on the independence issue.

If I was Alistair Darling, leader of the No campaign, I would be tearing my hair out. The all party campaign was chugging along quite nicely. Then UKIP turn up and it's all about them.

Nigel Farage had an opportunity to be a statesman in Scotland on Friday. Sadly, he blew it.

PS. Minutes before the story broke on Thursday I sent an email inviting Nigel to take part in a forthcoming Forest event.

We could start by asking him about Scotland and the smoking ban ... Now there's a double whammy.

Then again he may read this post and decide the event is not for him. I'll let you know.