Smoking ban: message slowly getting through
Thursday, March 5, 2009 
Members of the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group, a group of MPs who support the pub industry yesterday joined members of CAMRA and the British Beer and Pub Association to discuss the crisis currently facing the industry. (The BBPA estimates that pubs are now closing at the rate of 36 a week.)
To date most 'Save Our Pub' campaigns have focussed on beer tax and the "problem" of supermarkets selling cheap beer. The smoking ban is mentioned, but only in passing. Our job - over the next 12 months - is to put the ban higher up the agenda so that it becomes, if not an election issue, an issue that has to be addressed by the new government.
The message does seem to be getting through, albeit slowly. Yesterday Geoffrey Cox, MP for Torridge and West Devon, said:
"Local pubs in Torridge and West Devon are a vital part of our social fabric and community life. While big pub chains may be making money out of Labour’s new drinking laws, small everyday pubs in our villages and market towns are suffering from the combined onslaught of higher beer taxes, a weakening economy, supermarkets selling alcohol below cost price and the smoking ban.
"Whatever people’s views on the smoking ban, it has had a major impact on many pubs. Yet the Government seems determined not to help. Only a few months ago, the Government’s own tax inspectors admitted that pubs may be eligible for refunds on their business rates, but pub owners are still being kept in the dark about this U-turn ...
"We have already lost many of our Post Offices thanks to the Government’s neglect and lack of interest in the countryside. It is vital that our pubs do not go the same way. Pubs are some of our area’s most loved small businesses. It is about time that the Government actually did something to help them survive."
Cox stops short of calling for an amendment to the smoking ban to help local pubs but the fact that the ban is being talked about in political circles is encouraging. If the government - and Her Majesty's Opposition - thought this issue would go away, they were severely mistaken.
Reader Comments (3)
Hear, hear Simon. It seems that the major parties have closed their eyes, put their fingers in their ears and going la-la-la. When I was at the IPPR event last week I got the impression that mentioning the smoking ban was the equivalent of asking their partner out for a date.
I think the conspiracy of silence is that they know the real reason is the smoking ban and the DoH and ASH won't let then relax it.
Last night the BBC admitted that the smoking ban was a cause. The BBC have previously avoided the mention of the smoking ban.
Nulabour's monster i.e Ash has come back to bite them on their ass. Any organisation/quango that is not built on truth and transpareny always comes back to haunt and eventually gobbles up their master.
If labour really did want to revert the smoking ban the little monster wont allow it because it has got bigger than them and is now in control of their govt.