Sir, Now that the smoking ban is almost a year old in England, we can now assess some of its consequences. I’m a trustee of a social club with about 1,200 members, many of whom are smokers.

We complied with the new laws, built an outdoors smoking area and waited to see the effect. Although we sell roughly the same amount of beer, the dynamics have altered completely: the snooker tables are empty, the domino and card games are almost non-existent and, saddest of all, the “social” element has been destroyed.

I’ve lost count of the times that an interesting discussion has been curtailed because the smokers disappear to the smoking area. Non-smokers are reduced to “minding” places at tables until their friends return. Try to join them in the smoking area and the smokers will complain that you are taking up seats meant for them.

Older, less-mobile club members who do not want to have to move to smoke, stop coming, and thus miss out on the social contact that they have too little of already.

In the long term, this ban will not only destroy most clubs and pubs, it will also destroy the sense of community that this Government says it is doing its best to encourage.

Peter Morris
Doncaster, S Yorks

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