Give us a chance to self-regulate

13 May 2004 by
Give us a chance to self-regulate

Rifle through your back issues of Caterer to March 11, and you'll find a tasteful cover shot of two figures enjoying a glass of wine, a cigarette and a chat. The headline reads, "The burning issue: smoking. Government gives hospitality three years to clear the air".

Inside the issue, we welcomed minister for media, culture and sport, Tessa Jowell's reassurance that she had no plans for legislation to outlaw smoking in public places for the next three years. Self-regulation, we argued, was the best way to approach the foggy issue of smoking in pubs, bars and restaurants, if operators were to serve their customers properly.

Just two months later, the minister has performed a spectacular U-turn. Following a meeting last week with representatives of the British Hospitality Association and the British Beer and Pub Association, Jowell is now thought to favour a smoking ban.

Clearly, industry proposals to introduce no smoking areas into four in every five pubs, and to prevent smoking at the bar in the years ahead, did not go far enough to satisfy the minister. The word is that anti-smoking legislation could appear on the Labour Party's election manifesto.

Given the Government's recent flurry of pronouncements on improving public health, perhaps we should not be surprised. The smoking issue is possibly the most emotive and complex in the hospitality sphere. Of course we need to be sensitive to the health concerns of hospitality workers, and of course we need to cater for those customers who prefer not to exit their local boozer feeling as if they've been kippered. No-smoking areas and cutting edge ventilation technology can help both these camps.

At the same time, however, we need to provide for those people who like a cigarette with their drink or after their meal. And at present there's no smoke-free product available that can adequately replicate the pleasure they find in a pint and a smoke.

Shouldn't operators at least have the opportunity to display the maturity required to regulate themselves? If, in three years, the industry has not achieved a balance that pleases the population, then let's investigate regulation. But by veering along the legislative path, Jowell reveals a depressing lack of faith in the ability of the UK's hospitality industry to get its own house in order.

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