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Government 'stubs out' smoking ban review

The Government has announced that the planned review of the smoking ban has been scrapped with The Department of Health confirming in a statement that "There are no plans to review the smoking ban at the present time."

The ban which has its third anniversary today had been due to be reviewed if Labour had remained in power. This had raised fears within the Industry that the review would have examined the issue of whether the ban should have been extended to beer gardens and pub doorways.

The Guild of Master Victuallers (GMV), were among those groups lobbying against a review with chairman, Bill sharp, warning that "thousands of pubs are at risk from extensions to the smoking ban", and that it "would be utterly devastating, especially for smaller more traditional pubs and would accelerate their decline,"

The announcement has now raised hope that the existing measures will not be extended.

Coincidentally however anti-smoking enforcement activity may be on the increase. We have seen complaints both about alleged inadequate signage and smoking "back of house" this week.