Smoking bans - don't despair "down south"

UK leisure venues will be smoke-free from July 2007: the bans reach England last of all (1st July), after Wales (1st April) and Northern Ireland (30th April).

Scotland has had the advantage of an early ban on smoking in leisure venues. So what has been the experience, halfway through the bleak midwinter outside Scotland's pubs?

After nearly a year of the ban, publicans in Scotland are admitting to have lost some 'wet sales' but the feeling is that it could have been far worse. At Belhaven, part of Greene King since 2005, pub sales were down 2.8% in 2006. Smaller pubs may have fared worse, especially if 'landlocked' (nowhere to build a smoking area) but the range of reactions to the smoking ban have been interesting:


- Smokers have responded in different ways: some have given up, some cut down (and welcomed the ban), others have stayed at home.

- Anecdotal evidence is that the bans can have a feel-good effect: less animosity towards smokers in the pub, smokers enjoying a chat outside, and of course yet another driver for selling food instead of alcohol.

There are plenty of companies lined up with suitable outdoor furnishing products e.g. www.indigoawnings.co.uk, www.parasolar.com) and the patio lifestyle is part of the outdoor megatrend, anyway.

Magners - the fashionable drink from Ireland

Magners has been the big drinks success of the last few years but its makers, Ireland's C&C Group, will be aware that fashion is a big element in drinking patterns among young adults across the British Isles.

For many UK drinkers, Magners filled the gaping hole in the market left by the end of the fashion for the alcopops, PPS (premium packaged spirits) or RTD (ready to drinks). In other words, Bacardi Breezer, Smirnoff Ice, WKD and the like. Remember Hooper's Hooch, the 'alcoholic lemonade' of the mid-1990s?

Brand fashion has even tweaked established markets like ale, where Caffrey's (also marketed as 'Irish', interestingly enough) had an extraordinary run of success in the 1990s.

Whether cider is back for good as a stronger category is debatable. The cider market has fluctuated over the decades. In their day, the designer ciders (Diamond White, K) were the 'brand in the hand' favourites. But drinks companies will have noticed the old-fashioned advertising for Magners. This has a quality message - "Magners Irish Cider: time, dedicated to you" - rather than the usual quirky, comic positioning for a beer or cider.

Where to next in fashion drinks? Apart from C&C, the biggest UK cider makers (Bulmers, owned by Scottish & Newcastle, and Constellation Brands) will do their best to keep the cider momentum going, but who is to say what comes next for a revival? Ginger wine, anyone?