Smoking ban worry will burn itself out
A pint of Guinness and a fag. For years, I would struggle to have one without the other, particularly in Ireland, where it seemed that most people agreed with my way of thinking.
I am now a non-smoker - although I guess I still have my learner plates on, and am still battling to kick the habit. Meanwhile, it has been outlawed to have a pint and a fag inside a pub in Ireland.
It's just over a year since the Irish government imposed a ban on smoking in enclosed public places, and everyone in the hospitality industry in Ireland was screaming that it would be the death knell for the sector.
In our special report from the Emerald Isle's capital city, Dublin, you will read that, yes, the smoking ban has had an impact on the hospitality industry, but it has been nowhere near as devastating as the so-called sages' worst predictions.
Just as giving up smoking is really tough for smokers, so the hospitality industry has to go through its own withdrawal pangs as its readjusts to a life without fags and smoky pubs. What is clear from our report is that there are winners and losers as you go smoke-free. Those businesses that try to adapt to the brave new non-smoking world will do well if they provide smokers with an outdoors setting which is as comfortable as possible. This may mean spending some money improving the beer garden, and installing heaters and shelters to keep the wet and the wind at bay in winter.
But if Ireland's experience is anything to go by, it seems that pubs and bars that do their best to accommodate smokers can be winners, even if this means being particularly inventive if you lack outside space.
Most important - and the reason why Caterer campaigned to Stub Out Smoking in the workplace - is that workers in hotels, restaurants, bars and pubs are healthier following a complete ban.
In Ireland, the government had enough belief in its policy to impose a total ban. In this country, the Labour Party has come up with a fudge that, from the end of 2008, would only ban smoking in public places where food is served.
hose serving behind the bar in the remaining 20% of wet-led pubs in England and Wales would still have to suffer the harmful effects of passive smoking. A partial ban would also be confusing for customers, who wouldn't know where or when they could light up.
But one of the most encouraging things for hospitality businesses throughout the UK, and a very clear signal that the Government should completely outlaw smoking in the workplace, is that, a year after Ireland went smoke-free, nearly 100% of the Irish population - including smokers - back a total ban.
