8:00pm Friday 5th February 2010
By Ben Perrin
SWINDON pub and club owners say banning revellers from smoking in their beer gardens will totally devastate trade.
This may mean partygoers coming into the town later at night or boycott the scene all together in favour of drinking and smoking at home, they say.
It follows Health Secretary Andy Burnham’s bid to extend the ban to busy open-air areas.
The Department Of Health also believe theban would considerably reduce passive smoking.
Yesterday the Adver reported that Swindon Council could soon prohibit their employees from smoking inside a building or in the council grounds.
The controversial proposal is aimed at encouraging workers to give up smoking, but it has been met with a mixed reaction.
Some in the town argue it would impinge on their human rights, others say smoking itself should be outlawed completely.
Now venues in the town could also be forced to ban smoking if Government legislation extends to this outdoor cigarette ban.
Last night Helen O’Gorman, the co-owner of gay club Pink Rooms, said: “It would be absolutely catastrophic for us.
“We spent about £5,000 fitting out our beer garden in March 2007 when we knew the smoking ban was coming in on July 1 that year.
“We put canopies, heat lamps, lighting, speakers and furniture in the garden.
“A lot of places did the same and this ban could be devastating.
“The non-smoker has the choice on whether they stay inside, where as the smoker doesn’t.
“The smoking ban and the credit crunch has already damaged the pub trade. To also ban people from smoking in the outside areas would be ridiculous.”
Gemma Rowlands, who manages Yates’, in Bridge Street, said she would be in a situation where her customers will have to leave their drinks inside and smoke outside the front of the building.
“It would become a bit of a nightmare,” she said. “The smoking areas are packed full on a Friday and Saturday night.
“We would have to employ one of our staff as an attendant to look after people’s drinks while the person smoked outside.
“It would have an impact on trade and you might find people come out even later having drunk cheap supermarket alcohol before going straight to a club.
“We’re very much a venue where you will go on route to a club, so it could be very difficult for us.”
Another Swindon licensee, who did not want to be named, said: “I think it’s really unfair the pub trade is being picked on yet again. When it’s going to end?”
Figures from the NHS information centre show almost 2,000 people in Wiltshire quit smoking with help from local health services over a sixth-month period.
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