Smoking in pubs
An outright ban on smoking in all pubs, restaurants and workplaces in Ireland comes into force on 29th March. Hotel rooms, psychiatric hospitals and nursing homes will be exempt. Anyone caught breaking the ban will be liable to a fine of 3000 Euros. Hotel and pub owners claim the ban will impossible to enforce. The UK government has said it will not seek an outright ban but is supporting the industry led Charter for Smoking in Public Places. A recent CAMRA survey showed that 30% of adults favour a total ban, while 50% oppose the idea. CAMRA has also signed up to the Charter, which encourages smoke free areas and improved ventilation and extraction. Australian research measuring levels of atmospheric particulates suggests that designated no-smoking areas give limited protection from passive smoking, roughly halving the levels of second hand smoke.
However Liverpool is aiming to become Britain’s first smoke free city, following the New York model, after a study showed that 900 people in the city die each year from smoking and 105 from passive smoking. The Laurel Pub Company, the former Whitbread managed estate, plans to make up to 50 of its 635 pubs smoke free, following the success of its first four smoke free pubs. It suggests that nationally only about 30 pubs out of 60,000 are smoke free. The Ship in Kirkby in Furness is the first all no-smoking pub in the Furness area.