Developing Smoking Facilities

In 2005 around 48% of pub visitors smoked. Many of these were ‘regulars’ who visit the pub frequently. There is also evidence that these people tend to spend more money when visiting the pub. They are therefore doubly valuable as they visit more frequently AND spend more.

The smoking ban is unlikely to significantly affect the overall number of smokers in the population and they are still likely to go out more frequently and spend more than non-smokers; so they still represent an excellent marketing opportunity. Depending on your style of operation you can choose to

• Deter smokers – by providing no facilities at all
• Permit smokers – by providing minimal facilities
• Attract smokers - by providing excellent smoking facilities

The national regulations outline what type of smoking shelter you may be able to construct with local authority agreement. The local authority can then restrict further, for example if any changes are likely to:

• Change the ‘look’ of a protected building or area
• Create a public nuisance (especially noise disturbance to local residents), or
• If local bye-laws restrict drinking outside (as in some areas of Scotland)