Liverpool's bid to stub out early

By Nick Triggle
Health reporter, BBC News

Liverpool civic and health leaders have been among the most proactive campaigners for a smoking ban.

With just six months to go before the ban starts, we take a look at how the city is preparing for the change in the law.

Pubs will have to introduce smoking ban on 1 July

It could almost be a scene from any bar or pub up and down the country.

It is a Friday afternoon and friends Simon Ross and Dave Shearer are enjoying a bite to eat and a pint in their local.

The only difference is that there is not a whiff of smoke throughout the bar, close to Liverpool's city centre.

Radio DJ Mr Ross, 39, said: "It is lovely to be able to sit here without any smoke floating around.

"It makes it pleasant for people to come in and you don't leave with your clothes smelling."

Behind the bar in The Blackburne Arms, Lucy Jones, a smoker, said she did not mind the ban, which has been in place since May.

"I don't want to inflict my smoking on other people, anyway it is quite nice working in a bar which is not full with smoke."

Businesses

The pub is one of many businesses in the city that have already introduced a smoking ban ahead of the 1 July national deadline.

For the last three years, the council and local health trust have been working in partnership under the umbrella of the SmokeFree Liverpool group.

City officials were one of the first to make the case for the smoking ban, even putting forward to parliament a plan to introduce its own ban, before national proposals were drawn up.

After the government started pushing its own version, SmokeFree Liverpool started encouraging the city to go smoke-free early.

Promoting smoke-free environments is nothing new to the city - the council was one of the first local authorities to ban smoking on its premises 13 years ago.

The Blackburne Arms went smoke-free in May

Since then the local NHS has gone smoke-free, and the group has launched a "Why Wait" campaign to encourage businesses across the city to follow suit before July.

A roadshow has been set up, which has visited over 500 firms in the last six months, to get bosses to take the plunge.

More advice is at hand on how to draw up a smoke-free policy through Health@Work, the local business community's health and safety agency.

Health@Work's Frances Molloy said: "We have had a lot of interest, but there is still a lot of misconceptions.

"People think if they have a smoking room with proper ventilation that is ok and there is also this idea that it just applies to the hospitality industry. That is the challenge."

Pavement licences

Ms Molloy also envisages some problems with pubs, particularly in poorer areas where a third of the population smoke - well above the national average.

"They are worried about the impact on their pubs, some say they will go out of business.

"We try to help them with inventing ways of creating smoking places outside or to encourage them to market pubs in a different way."

The council has also tried to help businesses by speeding up the process to get pavement licences, which allow pubs and cafes to claim part of the path outside to put tables and chairs.

Andy Hull, a council official and chairman of SmokeFree Liverpool, said: "We want businesses to be prepared, we don't want there to be delays come July."

The result has been that in the last year over 100 businesses have gone smoke free, leaving just a third of workplaces to take the plunge before the July deadline.

But it is not all about businesses. Mr Hull said the city had taken such a proactive stance in a bid to encourage people to give up smoking.

He said: "We wanted to set an example."

Community champions

Local NHS officials have responded by setting aside reserves to pay for extra smoking cessation clinics this year.

In the last three years it is estimated an extra 13,000 people have gone through the clinics because of the city's stance.

We are not trying to demonise smokers but offer them help if we can Paula Grey, Liverpool's public health director

Liverpool's public health director Paul Grey said: "We are not trying to demonise smokers but offer them help if we can.

"But what we have found is that you cannot just go round telling people what to do and urging businesses to have smoke-free evenings.

"It has to come from the bottom up. We approached one landlord about having a smoke-free night and he was against it until people in the pub started asking for one.

"Research has found that 70% of people are in favour of this, so we know people want it."

Health officials are now appointing 14 community champions from voluntary sector organisations and members of the public to sell the message.

But despite the best efforts of city officials, not everyone is convinced.

Only a handful of pubs have gone smoke-free and during working hours smokers can be seen lining the streets after nipping away from their desks for a quick smoke.

Bank worker Diane Langworth said: "People in Liverpool don't like being told what to do. The ban will come in, but will people take notice of it?"