‘It’s unrealistic to ban outdoor smoking – pub trade will suffer’
The Welsh Government announced this week that it wants to push through measures to ban smoking outside pubs and restaurants. Lucy John and Ryan O’Neill spoke to punters and bar owners about their views
SMOKING outside pubs, cafes and restaurants could be banned if plans proposed by the Welsh Government get the green light.
Health Minister Vaughan Gething said he is making the commitment to “progress work” on the ban in the next Senedd term.
Anti-smoking charity Ash Wales said the move would further protect non-smokers from the effects of second-hand smoke.
But yesterday there was a mixed reaction to the plans among bar owners and customers.
If the proposed ban goes ahead, it could mean big changes for a hospitality sector already reeling from the economic impact of the Covid-19 lockdown, some of which opened for business for the first time in four months this week.
Although smoking indoors in public spaces has been banned here since 2007, an estimated 440,000 (17%) adults currently smoke in Wales, with almost half (45%) attempting to quit in the last year.
Alex O’Driscoll, proprietor of the King Arthur Hotel in Gower, Swansea, reopened his doors to customers this week.
“At present we have banned all smoking outside, and customers are only allowed to do it in the pub car park,” he explained.
“When we reopen we will have a designated smoking area for people to go, but there will be no smoking on the outside tables.
“People’s attitudes towards going to the pub have totally changed, and we need to move with it.
“Nowadays, people are more and more coming out for food and the social aspect of drinking, rather than to smoke. I understand [the changes] could affect some pubs, but there could still be a designated smoking area. Times have changed and pubs need to adapt.”
Amy McCann runs McCann’s Rock N Ale Bar in Newport, and she thinks a blanket ban would cause further damage to the hospitality industry.
“I was working at the Hornblower pub the day the indoor smoking ban was introduced and you saw a decline in the number of customers straight away. To stop the smoking outside pubs will kill the trade off completely.
“My customers are split around 70-30 in favour of smokers versus non-smokers, and the non-smokers don’t care if people are sat outside smoking. They will sit with them anyway. If places are serving food you could possibly have a smoking area away from the food.”
Paul Rumbelow, deputy manager at the Lewis Jones Sports Bar and Grill in Gorseinon, thinks it will be impossible to stop people smoking outside.
“Realistically it’s not going to work, is it?” he said. “How are you actually going to stop people other than physically stopping them? Unless you ban it altogether on the pub grounds, I don’t know how you’re going to do it.
“Stopping people smoking indoors stopped a lot of people going into pubs, so I don’t think it’ll work.”
Jon Bassett owns several pubs, including the Pen and Wig in Newport and the Four Elms in Cardiff.
He said he hadn’t yet had a chance to look into the proposed changes, but said “the last thing we need is more regulations right now”.
“Now is not the time for more regulations. With cigarettes it is getting to the stage where it’s a case of if you don’t want people to smoke them, don’t sell them,” he said.
“I know there was a law in England a few years ago about not smoking within a certain vicinity, but I didn’t hear much more about it after.
“The authorities don’t like people going out on to the streets, with things like bringing out glasses, so that wouldn’t be ideal either.
“We don’t even know if we’ve got a business, that’s the uncertainty we already face at the moment. Something like this could be another hammer blow, another battle to fight.”
Smoker Calvin Smith, 55, works in volunteering in Swansea.
He said: “It’s completely ridiculous. Where’s the scientific evidence? Look at how many people live to old age and smoke.
“Smokers are always the ones being attacked when there are so many issues and health risks linked to alcohol in Wales. If the government wants to do something about health, why don’t they subsidise fruit and veg on a local level? Stop adverts for pasties and pies?”
Bar worker Shane Jones, 24, from Swansea, said: “It’s a social and economic problem.
“If you stop people smoking outside pubs and clubs, they’ll inevitably lose business. When I smoke in those areas I never get people telling me they are uncomfortable because usually it’s just smokers in that area.”