CIGARETTE sales in the Irish Republic have plummeted in the six months since smoking was banned in offices, pubs and restaurants, tobacco companies said yesterday.

But a simultaneous 15 per cent fall in pub trade has publicans in Britain scrambling to introduce their own curbs on smoking to avoid the imposition of an outright ban.

Smokers in Ireland will buy 500 million fewer cigarettes in 2004 than they did in the previous 12 months if the rate of decline continues.

Gallaher, which has half of the Irish market, said it had sold 100 million fewer cigarettes in the first six months of this year compared with the period in 2003.

Ireland introduced its workplace smoking ban in March, and backed it up with the threat of a €3,000 (£2,000) fine for publicans who allow customers to breach it. There has been only one prosecution so far.

The worry for British publicans is the alcohol sales slump, and the industry is taking measures to ward off an all-out smoking ban on their turf.

Five of Britain’s biggest pub groups vowed yesterday to introduce a partial smoking ban in their outlets. The companies, which between them manage a third of Britain’s 60,000 pubs, have committed themselves to banning smoking at the bar by 2006 and to making 80 per cent of their customer space non-smoking within five years. The pact by the companies behind such pub brands as All Bar One, O’Neills and Two for One is likely to increase pressure on the rest of the industry to tighten its smoking rules.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said that 22,000 pubs will have banned smoking at the bar by the end of this year.

“Clearly, pubs recognise that non-smoking is on the increase and they want to reflect that. But we also believe in freedom of choice,” said Mark Hastings of the BBPA.

“While customers want more restrictions on smoking, only 20 per cent would support a total ban in pubs, according to a survey carried out by the Department of Health.

“Despite the noise that the Government is making on smoking bans, we believe firmly in freedom of choice while smoking is a legal activity.”

Mr Hastings said pub chains hoped to render a British smoking ban unnecessary by moving in the direction of providing more space for non-smokers.

“We are conscious of the effect the ban has had in Ireland, which has seen a 15 per cent fall in trade,” he said. “If a ban was introduced in the UK and had the same effect here, it would mean the closure of 5,000 pubs and the loss of 75,000 jobs. It would cost the UK economy £3.5 billion and the Treasury £1 billion in lost tax.”

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