Great Yarmouth Features  

Like it or not, the ban is here to stay. From summer 2007, the UK will see one of the biggest national health shake ups in modern times.

Following the lead of smoking ban pioneers the USA, Republic of Ireland and Spain among others, the Government voted by a landslide to implement a new law enforcing a total ban on smoking in all public places. Local business is divided, the nation is divided. But what does it all mean for you, Joe Public, especially if you are a smoker?

Many people I have spoken to appear confused and somewhat apprehensive as to what will happen once the ban becomes law next summer. I am a smoker and also visit Ireland on a regular basis. With that in mind, I thought it only fitting to put my experiences down in this article to give you some idea of what you can expect to see happening as the ban draws nearer. Hopefully by the time you reach the end of this article you will have a much clearer picture of what will be happening next year and what changes you will likely see.

The first time I ever visited Ireland, I had a vague idea of what to expect. Being huddled up outside a pub doorway, freezing cold in sub-Arctic conditions, wishing I was indoors in the warm and cursing the Irish Government for even having the slightest thought of introducing a total ban on smoking in public places. Oh how wrong I was.

Wandering through the streets of Dublin for the first time, I noticed virtually every pub, bar and club had specially railed off smoking areas outside the front of the building. Most of them packed with hoards of smokers, puffing away like one, big, steam train billowing endless clouds of smoke across the streets and in to the heady late-summer sky. I was expecting to hear the sounds of misery. The kind of sound replicated by a small child after having his or her favourite toy taken away. This was not to be. The streets of Dublin are buzzing with laughter, smiles and all-round happiness.

Not once did I chat to someone unhappy with the ban. Sure, some are disgruntled, and you always get traditionalists in any country you visit. Everyone loves a good moan and a whinge, us Brits especially. The smoking ban however, is something the Irish have clearly gotten used to. The majority of whom have said the same thing over and over. When the ban first came in, many opposed it. It evolved in to what it is now. Nobody can do anything about it so you just learn to live with it. Many smokers I spoke to say they actually prefer to go outside to smoke as the banter (or 'craic') is far better outside. These small, sealed off areas outside your local watering hole offer the chance to talk to a wide range of characters. Everyone in that railed off area is in the same boat, so everyone gets on. It's been said that non-smokers now venture outside to join the non-smokers because the craic is better out there than inside!

I have travelled across much of Ireland, and have seen how the smoking ban affects everyone, not just Dubliners. It's the same story pretty much across the board. You can also determine how busy a pub is without even having to go inside! Quite how these railed off areas will translate to us more reserved, private British remains to be seen. In all honesty I think it will follow in the footsteps of the Irish and provide itself as a ground to spark off banter between two people who would otherwise not have talked to each other. Once you get the conversation flowing, who knows what will happen next…

Places that are blessed with a beer garden or a back yard of some sort are also observant of the ban. Many places I visited provide free-standing gas heaters which we are already familiar with here in the UK. Those that do not provide those instead line their walls outside with large heaters. The kind your Nan used to have above the bathroom door in the 1970s. The ones with giant red, glowing bars that smelt of a bizarre mix of burning flesh and ouzo twixt a ruptured vacuum cleaner bag that's just dispersed itself over your new kitchen floor. Believe me, they work and they work well. I was in Dublin at Christmas, stood outside a pub on Christmas Eve with a mass of slaves to the legal weed with a full scale blizzard raging around us. With a line of those glowing bad boys beating down on your back, believe me, your kept more than warm enough.

Hopefully the Government here in the UK will provide funds to help businesses to add these devices to their properties. We shall see what happens on that count. Don't hold your breath though…

Obedience is another key factor in getting the ban to work. Many have questioned how the ban can be policed. It's quite simple really. Licensees could approach it one of three ways. These are only my suggestions, but take note as they just might help!

1. Ban the offender from your premises for life.

2. Ban the offender from your premises for life and pass the £2500 fine on to them to pay. As well as the personal fine they will receive.

3. State to them that if they want to see the business close, they should carry on smoking and keep piling on the fines until the business closes.

And there is quite possibly the key to the survival of business affected by the ban. The pub has long been a great British tradition. If people choose to stay away from pubs, those businesses will close eventually, no matter how much capital they have behind them. If consumers choose to ignore the ban, they are the ones crippling the business. They are the ones piling on the fines. Obedience of the law is key. I guarantee many will try to resist, the same thing happened in Ireland. Then the Government made examples of them which quickly brought everyone in line.

Next summer will see a big change for all of us. Just ignore the scare stories and whiners. Take it from somebody who has frequent first hand experience of living in a country with a smoking ban that the ban is not the big, scary crippling beast it's being made out to be. Think too of all the weird and wonderful people your going to meet, how you'll avoid a boring Saturday night out by not visiting all the lifeless places and how you'll no longer get home to find a giant cigarette burn in your favourite top caused by some drunken idiot waving a stray cigarette at you as they push past you in a packed bar.

Trust me, things will be fine.

Ian Cortina