Make all outdoor dining and drinking smoke-free, not just government proposed zones

Outside is the new inside for the hospitality sector. But allowing smoking under new pavement licencing rules is a danger to health and a step backwards in efforts to help people quit, says Lindsay Northover

The smoking ban didn’t harm the hospitality trade, but coronavirus certainly has (Getty)

More than 13 years ago all indoor workplaces, including pubs and restaurants, went smoke-free by law. It seems hard to believe now, but the tobacco industry and their proxies argued that it would be unenforceable, would destroy British pubs and could never work. The reality, from day one, was the opposite.

Smoke-free laws were popular, easy to enforce, good for business and good for health. More and more pubs started serving food, attracting a larger clientele as they became popular with families as free crayons and colour-in menus replaced ash trays.

The smoking ban didn’t harm the hospitality trade, but coronavirus certainly has. Pubs, cafes and restaurants are re-opening, but their capacity is strictly limited by the need for social distancing. That’s why parliament has legislated to allow businesses to extend on to the pavement. Because of Covid-19, the outside is the new inside.