Alistair Arkley column

Jun 20 2007 By Alistair Arkley, The Journal

In less than a fortnight local councils will have the chance "to further improve their relationships with local businesses".

So says the organisations Lacors which co-ordinates the regulatory activities of local authorities and has issued a guide to authorities on how to implement the smoking ban in England from July 1.

It is advocating a "softly softly" approach by the 1,200 council officers who will be implementing the ban - what is describes as "an educational, advisory and non-confrontational approach" and I am sure that everyone in the pub trade would like to see that happen.

Experience, from the way in which councils approached the introduction of the new licensing regime, suggests not all councils will heed this message. There is no doubt that some authorities are taking a constructive approach, for instance in assisting pubs on issues such as the provision of outside "smoking shelters" but it's by no means universal.

Take for instance the council which insisted that anyone wanting to submit an application for an outside shelter could only do it on-line, but every time anyone tried the website crashed!

For those of us running pubs in the North of England there must be a concern that we could be a disadvantage to other parts of the country in a number of different ways. One of the most important, of course, is that traditionally our region has a pub culture which is based more on drinking, and it has to be said smoking, and less on food so the impact will be greater.

I suspect this will be demonstrated particularly among the North-East's workingmen's clubs many of whom will see the ban as an attack on their traditions and culture.

Another aspect which could play a significant role in how the ban is implemented relates to a wider point about the differing balance and relationships between the public and private sectors in different parts of the country. It is a reality that in the North-East the public sector plays a much more prominent role in terms of employment and economic impact than, say, the south-east.

Our councils are being told that they should see the smoking legislation as a chance to improve relationships, but I fear that, as they did with the licensing changes, some will regard it as more of a chance to impose and interfere.