Stronger laws against smoking outdoors have been praised by health experts, but influential people in the hospitality industry are concerned that such laws may hurt some establishments, especially bars.
The government is considering stricter regulations regarding outdoor smoking, according to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, in an effort to lower the number of avoidable deaths associated with tobacco use and the strain on the National Health Service (NHS).
Although the specifics are still unknown, smoking may be prohibited outside of hospitals, sports facilities, and pub gardens as well as outside of outdoor dining establishments.
Opposition politicians have joined leaders in the hospitality sector who are criticizing the plans, calling them excessively regulatory.
A new ban would only be applicable in England. Although it’s unclear if it would apply to the rest of the UK, devolved governments might decide to enact comparable legislation.
According to Dr. Layla McCay of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS organizations, it would lessen the “huge problems” smoking causes for both people and society as a whole.
According to her statement on Radio 4’s Today program, smoking is the primary preventable cause of illness in the United Kingdom.
Dr. McCay continued, “We are encouraged to see that progress is being made.”
The public expects “not to have to breathe in tobacco smoke in places like children’s play areas and seating areas outside pubs, restaurants, and cafés,” according to Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the nonprofit organization Action on Smoking and Health.
Ms. Arnott emphasized that it was crucial that smokers could continue to “smoke in the open air, rather than inside their homes” by having access to certain outdoor areas.
Businesses in the hospitality industry fear that the ban will worsen their situation.
The Covid pandemic and the energy crisis, among other things, have caused a major decline in the number of pubs in the UK, according to the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), which represents 20,000 establishments.
“This needs to be carefully considered before we hurt businesses, jobs, and economic growth,” trade group UK Hospitality’s chief executive, Kate Nicholls, stated on the Today show.
According to Rob Pitchers, CEO of Revolution Bars, smoking in beer gardens is not “frequent enough to be putting any strain at all on the NHS.”
However, Sir Tim Martin, the founder of JD Wetherspoon, stated: “I don’t think it will have a big effect on our business, one way or another.”
Smaller barkeepers tell a different story.
The 55-year-old landlady of a pub in Newland, Gloucestershire, Lisa Burrage, asserted that “it is not up to the government to make that decision” and that bars should have the autonomy to decide whether or not to ban smoking.
According to Ms. Burrage, “this will be just another hurdle we have to face in hospitality and one we can do without,” she told the.
Salisbury publican Tony Harding, 57, said the people who live around his pub would probably not be pleased if his patrons started smoking and “blocking the pathway in the street, instead of [using] my nice comfortable garden”.
Politicians in the opposition share these worries.
Priti Patel, a candidate for the Conservative leadership, claimed that the plans would be “economically damaging” and amounted to “nanny state regulation”.
According to Robert Jenrick, a different Tory contender for leadership, “the last thing this country needs is thousands more pubs closing.”
Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, however, called the plans “government overreach on a scale that is utterly ridiculous”.
“Frankly, if they do this, it will be the death knell of the pub,” said Farage.
The prime minister’s plans are in line with the previous government’s suggestion to make it illegal for anyone born on or after January 2009 to purchase tobacco.
Reintroducing this legislation was promised in the King’s Speech during last month’s state opening of Parliament.
Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Sir Keir said that smoking-related deaths that are “preventable” place a “huge burden” on taxpayers and the NHS.
More information would be made public, he said, adding that the government was “going to take decisions in this space”.
A thirty-year-old man who frequents pubs, Richard Lawrence, supports the plan and finds it puzzling that it is seen negatively.
“If the ban was in place, I would definitely enjoy the experience of a lovely beer garden and enjoy my food and drink without the worry of the disgusting smell of smokers and blowing their smoke at me,” Mr. Lawrence told the .
Tobacco use is the UK’s single biggest preventable cause of death, killing two-thirds of long-term users and causing 80,000 deaths every year.
About 12.9% of people aged 18 and over in the UK – or about 6.4 million people – smoked cigarettes in 2022 according to the most recently available data from the Office for National Statistics.
That is the lowest proportion of current smokers since records began in 2011.
Selva Venugopalan, 45, has a three-year-old boy and his wife, Geraldine, is pregnant with their second child.
He told the the proposals were “a no-brainer”.
“I don’t want to smoke second-hand. I definitely don’t want my children to smoke second-hand at a tender age.”
