I think you are missing the point of the ban somewhat
it is more to do with stopping employees from being forced to work in a smoky environment, more than giving non smokers a pleasant place to stay. The ban includes all places of work, not just pubs. Punters can always chose to go somewhere else, staff don't really have that choice.
It's also about discouraging people from taking up smoking in the first place. I dunno about the figures in England/Wales, but in Scotland (where we had the ban a year before the rest of the UK) we have some of the worst numbers for heart disease, cancer and strokes in western Europe. Smoking is a major factor in all of these.
Only time will tell if the ban has long-term health benefits, but in the meantime, smoke-free pubs are just a bonus. Or a curse, depending on how clean the toilets are.
An amusing side story... a few years before the smoking ban, my old employer decided to make the entire company campus non-smoking. The only place smoking was permitted was in a few bus-shelter like smoking areas outside. After the smoking ban, since the shelters were almost entirely enclosed, the were defined as 'indoors' by the smoking band and it was actually illegal to smoke in them.
(
Mystery_Bob, Mon 1 Mar 2010, 6:36,
Share,
Reply)
^this
I say stop being so fucking stupid and stop smoking. Kill yourself with alcohol instead.
(
Firkinfedup last shat on your wife's tits at, Mon 1 Mar 2010, 8:05,
Share,
Reply)
I'm a smoker and I agree with the ban
Just because I choose to smoke doesn't mean I should force other people to as well.
(
Crap Little Monkey Deathstar, so good they built it twice, Mon 1 Mar 2010, 8:53,
Share,
Reply)