Pub smoking ban still divides the nation

The pub smoking ban continues to divide opinion. According to a UK-wide poll commissioned by Forest and conducted by Yonder Consulting following Restore Britain’s pledge to allow indoor smoking rooms in pubs:

35% think pubs and private members’ clubs, including working men's clubs, should be allowed to provide a well-ventilated designated smoking room to accommodate smokers, 51% think they should not be allowed, and 15% said ‘don’t know’. 

Note: Percentages do not add up to 100% due to due rounding.

To put this in context, in 2017, six weeks before the tenth anniversary of the smoking ban in England, we asked exactly the same question (Do you think pubs and private members’ clubs, including working men's clubs, should or should not be allowed to provide a well-ventilated designated smoking room to accommodate smokers?) and the result was:

Should be allowed: 44%
Should not be allowed: 46%
Don’t know: 10%

The latest Yonder poll suggests that public opinion has shifted a bit since then. Nevertheless it’s striking that, almost two decades after smoking was banned in pubs and clubs in the UK, more than a third of respondents still support designated smoking rooms in pubs and clubs, while only half oppose the idea.

It’s worth noting too that the result of the Yonder poll of 2,067 adults is a million miles from the result of the self-selecting online poll that appeared on the Daily Express website last week and was immediately highlighted by ASH in their daily news bulletin. 

The Express poll closed on Friday and for whatever reason they didn’t publish the final result. It’s easy however to see why ASH mentioned it because on July 27 - when the poll was still live - 79% of respondents opposed ‘bringing back smoking in pubs’, which is a very different proposition to allowing landlords to provide a separate, well-ventilated smoking room (as I’m sure ASH know).

Digging a little deeper into the results of the latest Yonder poll, one thing did surprise me, and that was the result in the 18-24 age group. Combined with the 25-34 age group, that’s the generation that has never experienced smoking inside pubs, so you might think they would support it overwhelmingly on the grounds that they have never known anything else. Not so. Asked whether well-ventilated designated smoking rooms should be allowed in pubs and clubs, the 18-24 cohort replied:

18-24 (225 respondents)
Should be allowed: 39%
Should not be allowed: 40%
Don’t know: 20%

In fairness I should add that the number of respondents in that age group was only 225 (so not statistically significant and with a much higher margin for error). Nevertheless, I found it interesting. The results for the other age groups (with the number of respondents in brackets) was as follows:

25-34 (375)
Should be allowed: 32%
Should not be allowed: 50%
Don’t know: 18%

35-44 (298)
Should be allowed: 36%
Should not be allowed: 50%
Don’t know: 14%

45-54 (327)
Should be allowed: 35%
Should not be allowed: 49%
Don’t know: 17%

55-64 (320)
Should be allowed: 37%
Should not be allowed: 52%
Don’t know: 11%

65+ (522)
Should be allowed: 31%
Should not be allowed: 57%
Don’t know: 17%

Again, percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

It’s interesting that the oldest age group (65+) is the one that, according to the Yonder poll, is most opposed to designated smoking rooms in pubs and clubs. What we didn’t ask was how often our respondents actually go to a pub (once a week, once a month, very occasionally, or never?) because that would be quite revealing too.

It’s also worth noting some regional variations, albeit I must again highlight the number of respondents so you can judge the statistical significance for yourself. Respondents in Scotland and Wales seem to have succumbed more than most to the nanny state orthodoxy, which is hardly surprising given the nature of the post devolution governments in Holyrood and Cardiff.

The question, in case you’ve forgotten, was:

Do you think pubs and private members’ clubs, including working men's clubs, should or should not be allowed to provide a well-ventilated designated smoking room to accommodate smokers?

Scotland (190 respondents)
Should be allowed: 30%
Should not be allowed: 54%
Don’t know: 16%

Wales (89)
Should be allowed: 31%
Should not be allowed: 59%
Don’t know: 10%

Northern Ireland (63)
Should be allowed: 42%
Should not be allowed: 47%
Don’t know: 11%

England (1725)
Should be allowed: 35%
Should not be allowed: 50%
Don’t know: 15%

Given the small number of respondents you could probably exclude Wales and Northern Ireland but I’ve included them for completeness and you can draw your own conclusions.

As for the regions in England, I’ve posted five of the nine below, starting with the North West (Burnham territory). Here, again, is a reminder of the question:

Do you think pubs and private members’ clubs, including working men's clubs, should or should not be allowed to provide a well-ventilated designated smoking room to accommodate smokers?

North West (222 respondents)
Should be allowed: 38%
Should not be allowed: 47%
Don’t know: 14%

West Midlands (168)
Should be allowed: 34%
Should not be allowed: 53%
Don’t know: 13%

London (275)
Should be allowed: 35%
Should not be allowed: 48%
Don’t know: 16%

South East (280)
Should be allowed: 40%
Should not be allowed: 47%
Don’t know: 13%

South West (194)
Should be allowed: 27%
Should not be allowed: 58%
Don’t know: 15%

Given the numbers I’m reluctant to draw too many conclusions but note how opposition to smoking rooms is highest in the South West but falls below 50% in London, the South East, and the North West.

A deeper dive into the figures also reveals differences according to social grade. In the AB category, for example, 33% of respondents would allow smoking rooms, but 53% wouldn’t. In the lowest (DE) category, the figures are 39% and 45% respectively. No surprise there.

Likewise the difference between respondents working in the public and private sectors. In the public sector 33% say separate smoking rooms should be allowed, while 53% say they should not. In the private sector those figures are 36% and 48% respectively.

Finally (and this is very deep dive), Yonder has included a new category of respondent, the ‘opinion influencer’ (whatever that is). One hundred and six respondents identified themselves as an ‘opinion influencer’ and this was their response to the idea of designated smoking rooms in pubs and clubs:

Should be allowed: 57%
Should not be allowed: 36%
Don’t know: 7%

Fancy that! Clearly we need to find out who these influencers are.

Anyway, while Restore’s pledge to allow smoking rooms in pubs won’t change the status quo, it shows that the issue hasn’t gone away. As the latest Yonder poll indicates, there is still a substantial number of adults who support an amendment to the current law.

Unfortunately none of the major parties (including, it seems, Reform) is prepared to revisit the issue and with public opinion heading, albeit very slowly, in the ‘wrong’ direction, it’s unlikely they ever will. In the meantime, over a third of adults in the UK have to accept that our opinion counts for nothing when it comes to smoking in pubs.

Home page image credit:
iStock / Jorge Villalba