How Smoking Buildings And Shelters Have Changed The English Pub

From July 1st in 2007 England was made smoke free by the banning of smoking within enclosed public places. So has the introduction of smoking buildings and shelters outside public houses had an effect on pubs in Britain? This article looks at how society has changed with the new laws surrounding smoking and how this has had a positive effect on everyone's health but perhaps not on a pub landlords pay cheque.

Firstly, having worked in a pub before and after the law change I experienced how it was in a smoky environment and as a smoke-free one. I did smoke myself, so the laws changes would have a direct impact on me and my colleagues who also smoked. At first, it seemed that the ban caused a stir within our pub, customers all keen to share their opinion, positive or negative.

I found a lot of conversations surrounding the smoking went from one extreme or the other, with a happy medium hard to find. A lot of regular smokers and drinkers within the pub felt that the removal of smoking in public places was just the government taking more control from basic freedoms. The other extreme was that smoking should be banned entirely, as the health issues were now fully understood.

At first the ban irritated me as it was an inconvenience to step outside in the street to smoke, but as I smoked less and less through laziness, I soon realised that I was coming home from work without stinking of smoke and that I liked this. In fact the entire pub became to brighten up, when food war brought in from the kitchen customers would all turn their heads, smelling the delicious meals made.

Eventually our landlord decided to look at various smoking builders and shelters to have put up in our beer garden so that the die hard smokers could puff away rain or shine. We ended up with a rather home made looking shelter in the end but it really seemed to do the job. We were concerned that the smoking ban would have lost the pub customers, but the beer garden and food smells were definitely the saving graces.

New customers were coming to our pub, families, pregnant mothers who could happily sit in our public house without breathing in second smoke. It all became a rather cheery change; even the regulars stopped grumbling and embraced the fresher air. Smoking buildings and shelters were the reason our pub managed to do so well, as some other businesses found the lack of having a garden or space to smoke in was their unlucky downfall.