ASH condemns smoking surveys as ‘ludicrous'

Lobby group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has dismissed two surveys on the economic damage a smoking ban would wreak on restaurants and pubs as "grossly exaggerated" and "ludicrous scaremongering".

Research unveiled by the Restaurant Association today predicts that a smoking ban could cost the restaurant trade as much as £346m in lost turnover and 45,000 jobs. More than half its members feared a decrease in turnover, and 86% predicted a lay-off of staff in such circumstances.

Chef Antony Worrall Thompson said: "This report warns that any legislation outlawing smoking in restaurants would severely damage a flourishing industry."

And in an NOP survey conducted in August, a quarter of 1,000 smokers questioned said they would boycott their favourite restaurant if it banned smoking, while a third would call time on their local pub. This research was commissioned by the Fair Cigarette Tax Campaign, which represents some 75,000 smokers and is funded by the tobacco industry.

But Clive Bates, director at ASH, believes the surveys ignore the fact that what is proposed is not a total ban, but better provisions for non-smokers and staff.

He points out that the UK's 15 million smokers represent just 28% of the population, and that restaurateurs "paint an overly bleak picture" by assuming a ban would deter all smokers, while discounting the extra customers a cleaner atmosphere could attract.

Bates added that, despite predictions of disaster, tax receipts from Californian restaurants revealed that the total smoking ban had made no significant impact - a point disputed by the Restaurant Association.