Scottish smoking ban hits pub drink sales

Scotland's five-month-old smoking ban has reduced pubs' drink sales by over 10 per cent, a trade body said today, giving investors an indication of what might happen if similar legislation becomes law in England next year.

A survey of 365 pub owners found 46 per cent reporting a drop in visits by regular customers since the ban started on March 26, compared with 5 per cent noting an increase, the Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) said.

"Our members are paying for an ill-judged and hasty government policy," said SLTA Chief Executive Paul Waterson. "Even our prediction of a 7 per cent loss of business has proved optimistic."

"Drink sales look to have dropped by over 10 per cent, and surprisingly even food sales are down 3 per cent," he added.

The survey suggests the impact of the smoking ban might exceed that experienced by brewer and pub operator Greene King, which expanded in Scotland last year by acquiring brewery Belhaven.

It said at the start of last month that like-for-like retail sales in Scotland had fallen 2.2 per cent since May 1.

However, Francis Patton, customer services director at Britain's biggest pub owner Punch, said its experience of Scotland's smoking ban was very different from the SLTA survey.

"Within our pub estate, we're not seeing figures anything like those mentioned in that survey, and that's probably due to the huge amount of planning we did ahead of the ban," he told Reuters.

"Food sales have picked up, and drink varies on a pub-by-pub basis," he added. "And it's still too early to tell."

The SLTA's Waterson said sales might worsen as the Scottish winter draws in.

"We are anxious about what is going to happen in the next few months as the weather gets worse and people choose to smoke and drink more at home," he said.

England is expected to ban smoking in pubs from mid-2007, but a ban is seen as less harmful to drink sales there, as England's milder climate would allow smokers to drink outside for more of the year.

* The French government is planning to ban smoking in all restaurants, some bars and almost all other "public" places from the New Year.

Alarmed by signs of an increase in smoking in France, especially among the young, the health minister, Xavier Bertrand, announced today that he would press ahead with radical restrictions on smoking in public.

- REUTERS, INDEPENDENT