Part One
THE PREFERRED INDUSTRY APPROACH
INTRODUCTION
The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA)
represents brewing companies and their pub interests, and pub
owning companies, accounting for 98% of beer production and just
over half of the 60,000 pubs in the UK. The pub sector contributes
over £22 billion to the economy, (representing over 2% GDP)
and employs in the region of 600,000 people. The pub food market
is currently estimated to be worth in the region of £6 billion,
and continues to grow. In the managed pub sector, this growth
is 10% year on year[40].
According to Mintel, the pub is now Britain's second favourite
place to eat out.
Structure of the UK Pub Industry
It is important that the scale and structure
of the pub sector is fully understood, as this is the context
for our comments on the proposals. The responsibility for implementing
the new legislation will, in the main, fall to individual licensees
running their own businesses, and not large companies. In simple
terms, pubs will fall into one of the following categories:
(a) Managed Houses
These are owned by a pub company or a brewery, and
employ salaried managers and staff;
(b) Tenanted/Leased Pubs
These are owned by a pub company or a brewery who
receive rent from the licensee who runs the premises as their
own business;
There are approximately 60,000 pubs in the UK,
of which 49,000 are leased, tenanted or freehold. Of the 60,000
total, 82% of pubs are in England and Wales.
INDUSTRY APPROACH
The BBPA and its members have been trying to
tackle smoking issues in pubs on a voluntary basis over the last
eight years. The publication of the Public Places Charter in the
White Paper "Smoking Kills" at the end of 1999 helped
to raise the level of awareness of smoking issues across the hospitality
industry, providing a number of specific venue policy options
and recognisable signage. We acknowledge that progress was not
as rapid as either the industry or the Government would have hoped.
The Charter would undoubtedly have benefited from more active
Government support in raising its public profile, which would
have helped to raise the expectations of customers and stimulated
even more demand at that time for no smoking choices in hospitality
outlets.
The most recent industry initiative was launched
last year, and is acknowledged in the consultation document. Since
September 2004, 23 BBPA member companies (plus three non-member
companies), covering in the region of 30,000 pubs (50% of all
pubs in the UK), have committed themselves to achieving the following:
| Deadline | Action
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| December 2005 | No smoking at the bar
No smoking in back of house areas
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| December 2009 | Pubs and bars to become predominantly no-smoking, with trading floor space being reduced for customers who smoke from a maximum of 65% currently to a maximum of 20% by 2009
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These companies are also committed in general terms to:
(a) Providing a minimum of 50% of restaurant/dining area
floor space for no smoking customers, with rapid movement to a
much higher proportion.
(b) Continuing to develop exclusively smoke free pubs
and bars where appropriate and practical.
The BBPA has surveyed members to assess the progress of this
initiative. The latest survey, carried out in July 2005[41],
indicates that:
No smoking at the bar: has already been implemented by 42%
of the pubs in our sample.
No smoking in back of house areas: has already been implemented
by 55% of the pubs in our sample.
Floorspace: 66% of the pubs in our sample have no smoking
areas. Of these:
— 34% had allocated over one third of their trading
floor space as no smoking;
— 11% had allocated over half of their trading floor
space as no smoking; and
— 1% of premises were smoke free.
The Association is committed to continuing to work in partnership
with the Department of Health on smoking issues as it has done
over the past year. The pub industry is now making much more rapid
progress towards the presumption of smoke-free areas in pubs.
The pub sector in particular has recognised the gradual public
shift in demand for smoking restrictions in leisure venues, and
is leading the way in providing customer choice.
The Association recognises and supports the Government's
commitment to choice, which it agrees is important for both individuals
and businesses as progress is made towards a presumption of no
smoking provisions in public places such as pubs, where people
go to relax and socialise.
We firmly believe that achieving the appropriate balance
between customer choice and employer responsibility to reduce
employee exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) is fundamental
when considering the best approach to managing smoking issues
in public places.
For this reason, we have a number of reservations about the
proposals contained in the consultation document and would take
this opportunity to suggest an alternative route which does not
rely on artificial distinctions. We believe that our proposed
approach is preferable to the proposed exemption for pubs which
do not serve food, since it will reduce the exposure of employees
and customers to environmental tobacco smoke in all pubs. Given
the wider public health goals of the Government it is surely preferable
to reduce exposure of all employees and customers and not just
those pubs where food is the differentiating factor.
BBPA members are well placed to set the standards for the
industry and participate in delivering the broader promotion of
public health messages. We would support Government action which
takes a staged approach to the issue, for example along the following
lines:
| Timetable | Action
|
| By end of 2007 | No smoking at the bar in ALL licensed premises.
|
| By end of 2007 | No smoking in back of house areas (eg Staff rooms, offices etc) in ALL licensed premises.
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| Timetable | Action
|
| By end of 2009/Spring-Summer 2010 | Our preferred options would be:
Trading floor space in pubs to become predominantly no smoking, with areas of the premises specifically designated for customers who smoke.
— Floor space available to smoking customers to be reduced to a maximum of 20%.
— Separate smoking rooms where practical.*
* These could be unserviced by staff during use, with staff entry only allowed a minimum of three hours afterwards for example. There are a number of practical issues that would need to be addressed and we would be pleased to discuss these with the Department of Health.
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Our industry initiative will of course continue unabated
over the next four to five years, as companies continue to reduce
the exposure of staff and customers to ETS while still preserving
choice. The initiative has an important part to play in achieving
public health goals and changing public expectations on smoking
in pubs.
The sudden prohibition at the end of the timetable of smoking
in licensed premises that prepare and serve food does not achieve
these aims. It is essential that the timetable is sufficient to
enable the pub sector to manage change effectively. This will
also ensure the full support of licensees and staff, and the re-education
and co-operation of customers. We therefore suggest that the timetable
runs to 2009-10, rather than 2008.
In the interests of fair competition and a level playing
field for business and employees, it is also crucial that the
same rules are applied to all licensed premises, including membership
clubs. We comment further on this point under Question 7 below.
40
BBPA Managed House Survey-June 2005. Back
41
BBPA/ALMR Smoking Survey-July 2005 (sample size 28,000 pubs). Back
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