Letters
Non-smokers do not want a ban
CAN I reply to two recent letters (Caterer, 5 November, page 23 and 12 November, page 20) which failed to appreciate the significance of recent developments in the smoking debate and the work of Forest in promoting equal rights for smokers (not "tobacco" as our detractors' cheap aside would attempt to imply).
First, with regard to the letter from the research manager at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), I suppose that it is some progress to have her acknowledge that "the risk of getting lung cancer from breathing other people's smoke is small". That is precisely what the World Health Organisation study confirmed. However, rather than admit that the game's up for the spurious claims over "passive smoking", ASH seeks to shift the goalposts. Don't let them fool you again.
Contrary to what ASH believes, restaurateurs do heed the demands of their "bums on seats" customers, and not the mythical hordes of non-smokers waiting to flood the restaurants the second smoking is banned. The experience of the Newcastle restaurant owner who accepted that his smoking ban had been a costly failure is one other owners could avoid if they adopt a sensible approach. The policy failed because non-smokers refused to book tables and abandon the smokers among their social party.
This tolerant attitude of non-smokers is confirmed by a survey conducted by Taylor Nelson earlier this year, which revealed that two-thirds believe there should be provision for smokers. There is a world of difference between restricting smoking and banning it.
Second, Mr Mitchem (12 November) complains of smokers disturbing his meal. Yet he can't have been unaware of the smoking policy before entering the establishment. He could have chosen a non-smoking restaurant. Anti-smoker organisations publish such information, and Forest produces smoker-friendly guides so that customers have the information before them and can plan their evening accordingly. If Mr Mitchem wants copies of either our Guide to Smoking in London or the Smoker's Guide to Scotland, they are available from either Forest, the publisher (Quiller Press) or any good bookshop.
Martin Ball
Campaigns Director, Forest, London.
HIT scotland partners HCBA
AS CHAIRMAN of HIT Scotland (the Hospitality Industry Trust), I was interested in your comments regarding the industry's response to charity (Caterer,3 December, page 19).
When HIT Scotland was formed, in 1994, it gave a commitment to HCBA that it would fund all its Scottish ongoing and one-off donations. Up to 1997, our annual grant has been £10,000. However, this year the HCBA increased the number of Scottish beneficiaries (to nearly 50) and at the annual HIT Edinburgh luncheon - which raised almost £15,000 last week - I was delighted to present HCBA chief executive Alison Rodgers with a cheque for an additional £10,000.
HIT Scotland also gives an annual grant of £10,000 to the Benevolent Society of the Licensed Trade of Scotland, which looks after about 230 beneficiaries throughout Scotland and 18 sheltered cottages at Pitlochry.
You refer to those who fall outside the realm of sustainable income. Many students, who we hope - indeed, expect - will form the future of the hospitality industry, drop out of their studies because of financial problems. This year alone, our new bursaries scheme has awarded £40,000 to helpwith this growing need. In 1999 we intend to increaseour bursaries funding to £100,000.
A challenge HIT shares with HCBA is the large number of people in the industry who do not know of our existence. The fact that more needs to be achieved is unquestionable but, thanks to the support from a growing number of sponsors, companies, establishments, colleges, universities, suppliers and individuals, we have made an encouraging start.
Peter Lederer OBE
Chairman,
HIT Scotland.
Camra believes in freedom of choice
WHO does David Best (Viewpoint, Caterer, 26 November, page 22) mean when he describes the "blinkered attitude of those who seem unable to tolerate the presence in a bar of any beers other than real ales"?
Not Camra members, I hope. Camra members do not object to anything in a bar except the absence of real ale in good condition which, as Mr Best concedes, is "what it's all about". If anyone has a blinkered attitude, it's the brewers and licensees who seem hell-bent on removing cask-conditioned beer from all but a handful of themed alehouse-type managed houses, where everything can be confined and controlled.
Camra members are customers - nothing more (and nothing less). All that unites us is our love of our own traditional beer. And although that implies a certain amount of scorn for those who are happy to settle for cheap imitation lagers and ales, let's get one thing absolutely straight: Camra is emphatically not out to curtail anyone else's freedom of choice.
Every single pub in the Good Beer Guide stocks lager alongside its real ale, and most of them probably have a nitrokeg too. That doesn't stop us recommending them. If anyone's choice is under threat, it's ours: we have been monitoring the alarming rate at which pubs are taking out hand pumps and replacing them with keg taps; and should anyone be surprised if we are beginning to fight back?
Ted Bruning
Assistant Editor, Camra, St Albans.
Data act heralds age of consent
LEE Kimber's article (Caterer, 26 November, page 37) on data warehousing and data mining underlines the value that hotels can generate from customer data. However, businesses must remember that, in collecting, storing and using such data, they must comply with data protection law. The 1998 Data Protection Act (expected to come into force early in 1999) introduces some stringent requirements, including the need to obtain an individual's consent to collecting, storing, processing and using data about them. This can be done by including a suitable statement on guest registration forms which guests fill in on arrival at a hotel; but many hotels seem to overlook this.
The act also prohibits the transfer of such data to countries that do not offer protection equivalent to that offered by the 1998 Act. The USA is such a country. This has serious implications for hotels whose data is processed in the USA (and this could include companies in their own group). This prohibition can be avoided if express consent to that transfer is obtained from the individual whose data is being transferred.
Linda Fazzani
Paisner & Co, Solicitors,
London EC4.
Inspector loses cool over heat
I FEEL I must write to suggest why I believe more food poisoning outbreaks are occurring ("Danger of a little hygiene training", Caterer, 19 November, page 23).
Having run a successful family country inn for near on 30 years, I have on occasions been visited by various health and safety officers from our local council and have always welcomed advice and new regulations - until the last visit.
At the time of the visit my blast-chiller had broken down and while we were waiting for spare parts, I had decided to cool cooked food in our chilled, 15ft x 10ft tiled beer cellar. I was told tostop this practice: it was suggested that it would be less hazardous to cool the food in the hot summer kitchen. My reply was: "Surely food is safer being cooled in 3-4 hours than in the increased heat where bacteria multiply at a far greater rate?" The senior officer, irritated at my persistence, replied: "I see no reason why you don't just place the food straight into the walk-in refrigerator."
Could he have been one of the candidates who failed the temperature-control questions?
AJ Speight
Proprietor,
Alma Arms Public House,
Brentwood, Essex.
Norwich is great place to eat
We live about 30 miles from Norwich ("Norwich restaurants suffer from eating in", Caterer, 19 November, page 7) and whenever we are visiting the city we always find it extremely difficult to choose between so many excellent places to eat.
Norwich restaurateurs have to work very hard to win a modest living because the quality of the competition isso high.
The Norwich chefs seem a remarkably friendly bunch.In fact, we have heard that about 30 city restaurants have got together to plan a "restaurant trail" in March. Customers will have their starter in one restaurant, their main course in another and their dessert in a third - ending with a huge party.All for a remarkable £15.
The Norwich public is already clamouring for tickets. We are looking forward to it because they are being allocated by a sort of lottery, removing that problem of choice.
Bernard and Carla Phillips
Wells-next-the-Sea,
Norfolk.
Ritz is right to stick to standards
The practice of gentlemen disrobing in hotels that conventionally attired patrons frequent - presumably to escape from hoi polloi's eagerness to present themselves as beachattendants in a third-rate European hellhole of aresort - is all too commonplace ("Cool reception for sweltering guest", Caterer,26 November, page 21).
Well done, the Ritz.Long may you stick to thenon-intrusive dress code that has been your hallmark for many a year.
Whatever next? Athletic supports and plimsolls?
John Rowe
Resident Proprietor,
Hotel Sydore, Torquay.
