On an average weekend in Moseley, a suburb of south Birmingham, the beer gardens tucked behind the high street pubs – of which there are at least eight – are packed with punters.
As the doors opened to customers on Thursday lunchtime, staff and customers alike were bristling at the news that the government is considering banning smoking in outdoor areas such as beer gardens, and outdoor areas at clubs and restaurants.
“It just seems like a really bad idea. I don’t see how it can be good for hospitality,” said Matthew Brigham, part owner and manager of the Dark Horse craft beer bar. “I think it would be horrible to police, for one. And I think it would lead to more people drinking on the streets, and more people drinking at home – and drinking cheap booze at home is more linked to alcoholism.”
The outdoor area in front of the pub where people are allowed to smoke is decked with fairy lights, heat lamps and picnic benches. Smokers, and increasingly vapers, can be seen on any given night of the week.
“There are still a lot of people who smoke, although it’s nowhere near what it used to be,” said Brigham. “I think stopping kids from taking up smoking seems like a really good idea. But this seems like an unnecessary impact on a sector that’s really struggling. Are they going to do anything positive with business rates or tax breaks to help?”
Just around the corner, Sean Short, 54, was smoking on the pavement outside a Wetherspoon’s pub – there is some suggestion that pavements outside venues could also fall under a new ban. “I think it’s ridiculous. As if there’s not enough pubs being closed anyway at the minute,” he said. “I can understand them banning it outside hospitals, that makes sense, but not outside pubs.”
He said an outdoor ban would not stop him from coming to the pub, but he could see that it would for other people, especially when alcohol is cheaper to buy in supermarkets.
“I would also feel for the staff, the last thing they want to be doing is coming outside and telling someone to put out a cigarette,” he said. “And then they say it’s about the secondhand smoke, but you’ve got diesel cars driving past constantly.”
Studies have shown concentrations of secondhand smoke are usually lower outdoors than inside, although in certain environmental conditions they can be comparable, and the NHS advises that any level of secondhand smoke inhalation is harmful.
Dan Levy, 43, on a lunch break with work colleagues, said: “As someone who smokes but is trying to stop, I can see how it would help. And I think that’s the point, I can see the benefits. .
“But I can see both sides. There was already a big impact on attendance at pubs and social clubs after the smoking ban, and this will only impact that further in an industry at a time when they’re really struggling. It will really hit the pubs with big beer gardens.”
His colleague Sammy-Jo Ottley, 30, said: “I’m not a smoker and [people smoking outdoors] doesn’t bother me. I’ve got asthma, but it’s not at the top of my list. If there’s a smoking area out the back, I just wouldn’t go out there.”
She added: “I think it will impact businesses massively, because if you suddenly can’t smoke somewhere, then you just won’t bother going.”
She added that the previous government’s plans, now taken up by Labour, to stop anyone who was born on or after 1 January 2009 from buying cigarettes mean that people smoking in public spaces will eventually disappear anyway.
“I’ve got a three-year-old, and I’d like to think he would never be able to buy cigarettes. And then there won’t be an issue,” she said.
Connor Wild, the general manager of the Prince of Wales pub, said he was particularly annoyed at the proposals, having just done a major revamp of the beer garden to fit current legislation on outdoor smoking areas.
It is the biggest pub garden in the area, complete with a cocktail bar, fire pits and live music at weekends.
“If people are going to smoke, they’re going to smoke. If it’s an outdoor area, I don’t see how it’s enforceable,” he said. “You’re not going to get people who have drank in here for 40-50 years who are smokers suddenly stopping smoking because the government said so. Are we expected to go round taking cigarettes out of people’s mouths?”
But that is what happened when they banned smoking indoors, a colleague reminded him. “I suppose,” he said. “I just don’t think this is a good idea.”
