It's a year since smokers in the UK last sparked up in their workplace, pub or bingo hall. And although 165,000 have managed to bin the cigs since the ban, about one in five of us is still puffing away, according to official figures. However, a recent study offers hope for the thousands who are finding it difficult to free themselves from nicotine's tight grip. The message is simple - don't go it alone, join a team of quitters.

According to research published earlier this year in the New England Journal of Medicine, your chances of giving up are higher if you do it as part of a group. In other words, although smoking is addictive, quitting is contagious.

The 30-year study of 12,067 people, by researchers at Harvard Medical School, reveals that the chance of someone continuing to smoke decreases by more than a third when a friend quits. “The culture of individualism is so strong that we sometimes forget how powerfully social networks influence our health,” says Richard Suzman, a researcher involved in the study.

However, you don't have to be part of a large group for the effect to work its magic; the study also reveals that when a spouse quits, the chances of his or her partner continuing to smoke falls by 67 per cent. So if you want to ditch the cigs for good, find some smoking chums and buddy-up. If you don't have enough smokers to form a group, talk to your GP about the NHS stop smoking groups in your area. No time? Then see if your employer runs any groups. Help is at hand from the charity Quit; it will help to set up and manage stop smoking groups in workplaces.

Contact details

To find NHS stop smoking services in your area: gosmokefree.nhs.uk, 0800 0224332. For the Quit stop smoking service visit quit.org.uk , 0800 002200

The Phoenix Artist Club Group

Underneath the Phoenix Theatre in the heart of London's West End, the Phoenix Artist Club has long been a regular haunt of actors, dancers, and theatre-goers.

But in addition to its flamboyant clientele, the

club - built in the 1930s as rehearsal rooms for the adjoining theatre - was known as a smokers' bar and on most nights was filled with an atmospheric fog.

“It was extremely smoky down here. You weren't allowed to smoke in theatres or backstage, so immediately after a show the cast and crew would be in here smoking,” says Maurice Huggett, the director of the club for the past eight years.

The smoking ban was not welcomed by owner and punters alike until Huggett, who smoked 60 a day, came up with the idea to form a fraternity group of quitters, “a little fellowship”, as he calls it.

He devised a system: if anyone in the group wanted a cigarette, he or she had to call a fellow quitter whose job was to “talk them down”. The group started with a circle of five, but had 50 members at its height.

The ban also has given the club a new ceiling. “I had 40 years of nicotine to remove,” says Huggett. “In the process I revealed a ceiling that nobody knew existed. It was beautifully tiled, with patterns of the Tudor rose and Scottish thistle, in gold, green and red.”

Chris Choi, Television journalist

Choi, a Phoenix regular, used to smoke about 20 a day and had tried to give up many times.

“With all the money I've wasted on cigarettes, I've also wasted a lot on quitting. I've got all the books and tapes, plus I went to hypnotherapy sessions. None of it worked.

“But then Maurice suggested this support network. If we fancied a cigarette, we had to ring each other and talk each other out of it. I used to have a collection of the warnings on the front of the fag packets so that I could them read out when Maurice called.

“In return he would tell me that I stank, that my clothes stank, and that my boss would fire me because my complexion looked appalling.”

The key to the group's success, Choi says, is the moral support that a group provides.

“You felt that you were letting the others down if you were the first to slip and there was the embarrassment factor of having to admit it.”

Although family and colleagues can help, Choi believes that friends have a special ability to help you to quit. “People are usually most honest with their friends. In fact, this whole process has made all of our friendships stronger. But it wouldn't work with non-smokers as they would be preachy.”

He believes that being able to call one another was an effective way to keep them all on the straight and narrow. “You can get the support that you need more or less immediately, via a phone call or texts.If you fall you off the wagon, the group members say: don't worry, pick yourself up and carry on.”

He says would-be quitters are at their most susceptible when they're relaxing with alcohol, another reason why it's important to use a network of friends. “You're on to a winner on all kinds of levels.”

Jo Waggott, Bank manager

Jo, originally from York, but now living in London, used to smoke up to 20 cigarettes a day. Huggett was her catalyst for joining the group.

“I'd tried a number of methods before - patches, hypnotherapy - but I ended up smoking with the patches on.”

She says that the camaraderie spurred her on.“I didn't want to let the others down. Maurice was the biggest smoker, and I thought, crikey, if he can do it, we have a chance.”

Etienne Vermaak, City worker

Etienne, a South African, has been living in London for ten years. He has been going to the Phoenix for two years, and is good friends with Chris Choi. He smoked 10 to 20 cigarettes a day and says that the group has helped him to quit.

“I use the guys as a support network. It's definitely useful giving up with friends who are going through the same process.”

Della Trimbell, 40, jewellery maker, North Somerset

Trimbell's attempts to curb her 20-a-day habit always ended in failure.

However, three months ago she discovered the No Smoking Day online forum, a site that allows people to read and post messages to other quitters, in the hope of supporting and helping each other.

This time she managed to stop, something she credits largely to the forum.

“I'd be lost without it. It generates such a feeling of team spirit.

“It was out of action briefly a couple of weeks ago and I found that really hard as I didn't have my quitting buddies with me.”

The forum also has helped her through the rough patches. “Last weekend I would have mugged someone for a cigarette. I posted a message saying ‘Help, I'm having the worst time of my life!' Within seconds, like bees to a honeypot, people were posting messages of support and encouragement.”

In fact, Trimbell believes that she may have replaced her nicotine habit with an addiction to the forum. “I use it every day. Especially if I'm keeping tabs on someone who has blipped. We're all very honest about blips.

“I would thoroughly recommend it.”

nosmokingday.org.uk/forum/

What works? By Dr Toby Murcott

Pharmaceuticals

There's good evidence that a number of drugs are effective in helping you to give up smoking. The two broad approaches are antidepressants such as Zyban, and the anti-obesity drug rimonabant. Must be taken under medical supervision.

Acupuncture

Research does not dismiss it, but there is no ringing endorsement.

Support

All types of support - from groups to a doctor's advice - help. It's not clear from the studies whether any version is significantly more effective than any other; all seem to ease the pain.

Hypnotherapy

Some studies hint that it is effective, but a review of all the research turns up no firm evidence either way.

Nicotine replacement therapy

Whether it's gum or patches, there's good evidence that topping up nicotine levels helps you to kick the habit.

STOP SMOKING WITH THE TIMES

Join our Health Club Stop Smoking group and get support, help and motivation from fellow quitters.

Sign up to the Health Club (timesonline.co.uk/healthclub), and then go to http://stopsmoking.groups.timeshealth.co.uk

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