Pubs expect backlash over smokefree law | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

Summer is normally a time when pubs are packed with party-goers celebrating the arrival of warm weather and holidays.

Bar owners usually cash in during the festive season but this year, many are preparing for a downturn in business as a result of the controversial new smokefree law.

From December 10, smoking will be banned in all licensed premises, forcing smokers on to footpaths or into garden bars, if they are available.

Staff will be responsible for making sure smokers stick to the rules, but in Rotorua many bar and club owners are expecting a backlash from patrons, upset at having to smoke outside.

The New Zealand Hospitality Association has advised its members to prepare for a downturn of up to 30 percent and Bay of Plenty branch president Reg Hennessy knows the months ahead will be challenging for pub owners.

"We're trying to change 1000 years of history and there's been no real advertising about the law change whatsoever."

He is also critical of the ban's timing - right at the start of the festive season when more businesses and individuals are socialising.

"No time is a good time to start it but it does make things more difficult for us."

Some bars and clubs, such as Rotorua's Mitchell Downs Tavern and the RSA, have altered their premises to include outdoor areas where smokers can legally gather.

Some are also looking at buying new vandal-proof litter bins to place outside their bars.

Few licensed premises, however, had the space for serious alterations, Mr Hennessy said.

"We're just having to police it as best we can and we need customers to have common sense, patience and understanding."

At the Rotorua Citizens' Club, smokers would be able to use a purpose-built garden area and manager Harry Kimber said patrons knew there would be a hard line taken against anyone flouting the law.

"Being a smoker myself, if I go outside I expect everyone else to do it too."

Rotorua RSA manager Roly Rolston said many members, including non-smokers, were still angry at the Government for passing the law change, with some describing it as "social engineering gone mad".

Although he was not sure how the smoking ban would affect patronage, he has prepared for a 10 percent downturn.

"I think initially people will be in the party mood and we might not see the real effects until winter when it gets a bit colder and people might be more reluctant to use the beer garden."

World War II veteran Colonel George MacLeod from Rotorua has been smoking for more than 60 years after getting hooked at 15 when he was a Royal Marine in the New Zealand Navy.

He would start his day with a Government-issued cigarette and by the end, he would have smoked about 50.

These days, Colonel MacLeod has cut his habit down to about one packet of cigarettes a week.

For years he has joined his friends for a smoke and a quiet tipple at the Rotorua RSA but that is all about to change.

Not wanting to see the RSA prosecuted, he will reluctantly wander outside for a smoke in the beer garden from December 10.

"Fining the clubs just shows how rotten and underhanded our MPs have been over this law.

"A few of us will probably catch pneumonia and cost the Government even more money on health care."

He expected some smokers would flout the law but doubted few people would "dob in" bars where they constantly ignored requests to stub out their "cancer sticks".

"I'd be really surprised if anyone rang the nicotine Nazis," Colonel MacLeod said.