A ban on outdoor smoking in Stony Stratford? Is this the Britain we want? - Telegraph.co.uk

Soon, smokers will only be able to light up in their own homes, though no doubt a way will be found to stop that as well. The ban was supposed to protect vulnerable people from the effects of passive smoking. But with nowhere else to go, many adults now stay indoors to smoke, causing their offspring to inhale fumes they might otherwise have avoided. Such perverse outcomes mean that Parliament should take another look at the ban and the way it has worked. Other EU countries such as Germany and Sweden let bar owners provide smoking areas, so why can't we? Our freedom of choice is at stake – or is that no longer important in a country once defined by a commitment to individual liberty?

Also at stake is the future of our traditional pubs, especially those in town centres unable to provide outdoor smoking cabins. Over the past four years, an estimated 6,000 pubs have closed, partly as a consequence of lost trade caused by the ban. At the House of Commons this week, publicans lobbied MPs to amend the ban so that premises can have separate smoking rooms. Is anyone listening to them? For the first time, their pubs now rely more on food than drink for their income; but the exodus of smokers is leaving many struggling to survive.

Years from now, provided the Cock and the Bull in Stony Stratford are still going, elderly patrons may tell a tale of when people could be seen in public smoking a cigarette or puffing on a pipe, but no one will believe them.