Top restaurant and bans smoking
One of London's finest restaurants has banned smoking in response to customer demand.
The radical move at Michelin-starred Chez Bruce in Wandsworth coincides with this week's Irish ban on smoking in public places and shows that momentum towards a British ban is growing.
Dining at Chez Bruce was recently voted one of the capital's greatest gastronomic experiences by the authoritative Harden's London Restaurants guide - beaten only by Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea.
Owner Bruce Pool said: "We gave the decision a hell of a lot of thought, but we have only had a few complaints and there has been no impact on covers. I believe it is the only way forward."
Knightsbridge restaurant Zuma also canvassed regulars, including Kylie Minogue, Gwyneth Paltrow and Sir Elton John, before it led the way and banned smoking in October.
Meanwhile, the Laurel Pub Company plans to open 50 non-smoking pubs, after the success of a trial in the City. It says takings at The Phoenix in Throgmorton Street have risen by about 50 per cent since it banned smoking last year.
Maureen Heffernan, spokeswoman for Laurel, which has some 650 pubs around the country, said: "We are making more money and attracting people who did not feel comfortable in a pub environment before.
"We have a very large increase in the number of women using the pub, and food orders have gone through the roof. We will have opened eight more nonsmoking pubs around the country by Easter and 50 by the end of the summer."
Naj Dehlavi, from anti-smoking pressure group Ash, said: "It shows that the scare stories about reduced profits in non-smoking pubs are rubbish. The majority of the public doesn't smoke, so it is common sense to cater for them."
London Mayor Ken Livingstone said: "Recent polls of Londoners show... support for a ban strongest in café³ and restaurants, and with less support in relation to bars and pubs." A recent poll of almost 35,000 Londoners showed twothirds would favour a ban in public places. Mr Livingstone would have to ask the Department of Health for extra powers to bring in a ban.
