Sir, - Any ban on smoking in pubs will have the effect of increasing revenues. The tobacco companies have consistently maintained that revenues will decrease and have enlisted pub owners in their cause. This is the same tactic they have used elsewhere. However, when smoking bans have been implemented, revenues have actually gone up. The apparent reason is the large number of potential customers who hadn't been going to pubs to avoid exposure to tobacco smoke. The pub owners were being used by the tobacco companies to work against their own interests.
Please, Irish publicans, show more intelligence and backbone than your counterparts elsewhere, who are now reaping the additional revenues from smoke-free pubs, no thanks to the tobacco companies. - Yours, etc.,
Kevin Putlam, Valplano El Paso, Texas, USA.