Leicestershire Shisha cafe owner fined for smoking ban breach

Shisha cafe owner fined for smoking ban breach

Thursday, December 18, 2008, 09:30
A shisha cafe has fallen foul of the laws which forbid smoking in public places.
Marhaba, in Evington, has become the third such business in Leicester to be hit with a fine since a ban was introduced in July last year.
The cafe's manager was ordered to pay £1,650 in fines and costs following a court hearing yesterday.
Suhayl Ismail (26), of Buxton Street, Spinney Hill, Leicester, pleaded guilty at the city magistrates' court to failing to stop people smoking at Marhaba on March 16.
Katherine Jamieson, for the council, said environmental health officer Steve Joyce stopped outside the bar, in Evington Road, at 12.50am.
He saw a member of the public enter and a number of people sitting at tables smoking shisha pipes.
"When he was interviewed, the defendant accepted he had spoken to the officer, but thought smoking was allowed as it was out of hours," Ms Jamieson said.
"He said the event was a private party for friends and family members only, not open to the public.
"There were no signs on the door saying it was closed to the public and the door was unlocked."
Mrs Jamieson said prior to the smoking ban's introduction, information had been sent to all businesses likely to be affected, including shisha cafes.
"Mr Ismail requested a meeting with council officers on September 6, 2007, to see if smoking could be allowed at private functions.
"He was told it would not be allowed," Ms Jamieson said.
Ismail had also been given a caution by the council.
Louise McGhee, for Ismail, said he accepted he had fallen foul of the legislation by allowing shisha pipes to be smoked at a private party.
She said: "He honestly believed that, as it was out of hours and a private function, he could allow this.
"It was not a deliberate contravention of the law."
She said the business was floundering and he had been trying to sell the lease for some time.
"By 11pm, all the members of the public had left. It was just a reunion party for friends and family," she said.
"They were helping themselves to drinks and had brought their own food."
District judge Richard Holland said Ismail's claim that he believed smoking was allowed at private parties was counterbalanced by the fact that he had been told the opposite at a meeting with the council.
He said: "The officer saw what appeared to be a member of the public going into the premises and there were no signs saying it was a private party with the public not allowed."
At yesterday's hearing, Ismail was fined £650 and ordered to pay £1,000 towards Leicester City Council's costs.
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk

14 area bars win exemptions to smoking ban-HARRISBURG-Pennsylvania

14 area bars win exemptions to smoking ban-HARRISBURG-Pennsylvania
By Rodney L. Sherman, Clarion News Editor

HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania Department of Health has granted 14 Clarion County bars exemptions to the recently enacted Clean Indoor Air Act.

The Clean Indoor Air Act went into effect Sept. 11 and banned smoking in most public places, including restaurants, workplaces and a portion of casino floors.

The bill, however, allowed for some exceptions, including private residences (except those being used at the time for the provision of child-care services), private social functions where the site involved is under the control of the sponsor (except when the club is open to the public for a club-sponsored event, or used for a private event that is not club sponsored) and a wholesale or retail tobacco shop.

According to information posted on the Department of Health’s website, 14 exemptions have been granted in Clarion County .

The list doe not include which businesses applied for exemptions. The exemptions granted include:

All-Stars Bar in East Brady.

Mike’s Restaurant and Lounge in Salem Township .

Mac’s Bar and Grill in Knox.

Knotty Pines in Farmington Township .

BK’s near Lucinda.

The Dew Drop Inn in Paint Township .

The Woodland ’s Tavern near Mayport.

The Blue Town Tavern north of New Bethlehem.

Desperado’s Bar in New Bethlehem.

Diddy’s Bar in New Bethlehem.

Chadz Lounge outside Rimersburg.

Doc’s Tavern in Rimersburg.

Savelli’s Tavern in Huey.

The Shippen Inn just outside Shippenville.

In order to be granted an exemption to the Clean Indoor Air Act, the establishment had to prove:

It has a valid restaurant liquor license or an eating place retail dispenser license.

It has total annual (calendar year) sales of food sold for on-premises consumption of less than or equal to 20 percent of the combined gross sales.

It does not permit individuals under the age of 18 years of age in the establishment at any time or for any reason. This includes children of business owners or children accompanied by adults entering the establishment to pick up take out food. The establishment had to post signage at all entrances stating “No one under the age of 18 permitted.”

It posts signage at all entrances stating smoking is permitted.

A second exemption classification allows a drinking establishment to apply for an exception if on Sept. 11, the effective date of the CIAA, the drinking establishment had an enclosed bar area within its bar-restaurant that meets the following requirements:

It has a valid restaurant liquor license or an eating place retail dispenser license.

The bar area is a physically connected or adjacent enclosed area which is separate from the eating area.

The bar area has a separate air system and a separate outside entrance.

The same age restriction and signage requirements listed above are met.

The sales of food consumed in the enclosed bar area where smoking is permitted must be less than or equal to 20 percent of the combined annual (calendar year) gross sales within the permitted smoking area.
http://www2.theclarionnews.com

Financial crisis and smoking ban forcing pubs to call time, MPs told

Financial crisis and smoking ban forcing pubs to call time, MPs told
10 December 2008
By Jonathan Reed
THE banking crisis and smoking ban have combined to hit the pub industry and force down the number which survive, MPs have been told.
The number of new pubs opening has "fallen off a cliff" in the past year as bank lending has dried up.

More pubs than expected have also closed because of the smoking ban, industry experts told the Commons Business Select Committee, and last night Chancellor Alistair Darling admitted the legislation had forced some out of business.

Yesterday two of the major pub companies were also dragged before the committee amid concern the conditions they impose make it increasingly difficult to make a living out of running a pub, forcing more to close.

The claims over the impact of the banking crisis and smoking ban were made as the committee investigates the pub industry, which is losing five establishments every day. The recent Government announcement of an increase in alcohol duties to counteract the temporary cut in VAT is feared to make things even worse.

Nick Bish, chief executive of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, said the banking crisis was partly to blame for problems in the past year, with only 403 pubs opening up to September this year, compared to 1,035 in the full year in 2007.

"The banks shut up shop, actually, about a year ago and getting into the business has become much, much more arduous," he said.

Meanwhile the British Beer and Pub Association said it warned then-public health minister Caroline Flint before the smoking ban came in that it would result in 5,000 pubs closing.

Chief executive Rob Hayward said: "I think everything's gone to show it's accelerated that."

Later Mr Darling also admitted the smoking ban was a factor in the decline of pubs as he defended the decision to increase duties, saying he had done it for a reason – to keep the level of taxation on alcohol the same when VAT was cut.

The Chancellor said: "There's a lot of different things going on here. People's drinking habits are changing, people buy alcohol from the supermarkets, the smoking ban has made a difference."

Yesterday pub groups Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns also faced a grilling from MPs, some of whom blame them for making it increasingly difficult for licensees to run them viably.

The British Beer and Pub Association said the industry was experiencing "one of the most severe and sustained periods of pressure on record".

Longer-term trends of people moving away from going to the pub have been "dramatically sharpened" by the economic downturn and exacerbated by tax and regulation changes, it added.

With communities increasingly losing their pub, a lifeline in rural areas, it wants the Government to scrap duty increases, enforce existing laws instead of creating new ones and to offer active support for the British pub.
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

Fears cigarette ban may finish newsagents

Fears cigarette ban may finish newsagents

10 December 2008
By David Coates, Business Reporter
Newsagents fear plans to force them to take cigarettes off display in their shops maybe the final nail in the coffin.
One newsagent in Preston said if his cigarette sales were to drop he would be relying on "meagre" sales of lottery tickets and scratch cards to survive.

Health Secretary Alan Johnston said yesterday supermarkets would be hit first by the ban which aims to cut the number of underage smokers.

He claimed corner shops and newsagents would have to diversify anyone as smoking rates dropped.

David Sturzaker, who has run Cop Lane News in Penwortham, near Preston, for 25 years, said the majority of underage smokers bought cigarettes from vending machines which the government has ruled out banning.

He said: "There are 200,000 kids smoking, what about the five million adults who legally buy cigarettes and we legally sell too?

"We have a strict rule that we do not sell to anyone under-18 anyway, so this is unlikely to have any effect on us anyway and I think these kids will find cigarettes from somewhere if they really want them."

Danny Chauhan, who runs a newsagents on Beech Drive in Fulwood, Preston, said he would wait to see the government's proposals in full but said newsagents were concerned about the impact it could have.

The plans announced by Mr Johnson will ban prominent displays and advertising in shops.

The Health Secretary said: "Advertising has been removed from television, film and newspapers, the only point now where there is advertising is point-of-sale.

"Other countries have found when they banned point-of-sale displays, they reduced the number of young people taking up smoking."

In a written statement to Parliament, he promised a "fully inclusive" implementation with all possible help given to businesses to deal with any impact.
http://www.lep.co.uk

Cigarette sales forced 'under the counter'

Cigarette sales forced 'under the counter'

By Joe Churcher, PA
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
The Health Secretary today unveiled plans to force cigarette sales "under the counter" in an attempt to cut smoking by children.


Alan Johnson also announced that the Government was taking on powers to make it more difficult for under-18s to use cigarette vending machines - and may ban them if that does not work.

The move to ban prominent displays of tobacco products and advertising at the point of sale provoked storms of protest from shopkeepers, who argue it will cost them much-needed business during the economic crisis.

The Tobacco Manufacturers' Association warned that the change would hit corner shops hardest as customers buy more of their cigarettes from supermarkets. But Mr Johnson said that the ban will be introduced in supermarkets first, and that corner shop owners would anyway have to "diversify" as smoking rates fall.

The Health Secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Any sane, rational and sensible Government will be focusing on removing what is the biggest public health risk."

Evidence from abroad shows that under-age smoking rates have been cut by as much as 10 per cent, while no retailers have been forced to close, said the Department of Health.

Mr Johnson said that the cost of changing shop layouts to accommodate the ban would not be "horrendous", citing evidence from Canada suggesting it came to about £500 a shop.

Official statistics show that almost 200,000 children aged between 11-15 were regular smokers in 2007.

And the "overwhelming majority" of the 100,000 responses to a consultation on the new measures backed a ban on point-of-sale displays as a good way of protecting these young people from the dangers of smoking.

Mr Johnson revealed that he had ditched a plan to ban the sale of cigarettes in packs of 10, which are thought to be within the range of pocket money purchasers. The consultation revealed concerns that this might erect a further obstacle for adults trying to cut down their intake.

He said: "This is primarily about children - 11 to 15-year-olds. Advertising has been removed from television, film and newspapers. The only point now where there is advertising is point-of-sale.

"Other countries have found when they banned point-of-sale displays, they reduced the number of young people taking up smoking.

"That is the primary concern we have here. Also, having these displays prompts impulse purchases and makes it more difficult for people who are determined to quit to actually quit."

In a written statement to Parliament today, Mr Johnson will promise a "fully inclusive" implementation across England with all possible help given to businesses to deal with any impact.

Vending machines, believed to be the source of cigarettes for up to a fifth of young smokers, will also face a ban or age-proofing measures such as a requirement to buy tokens for the machines rather than using cash.

And there will be a promise of more research on whether forcing cigarette firms to sell their products in plain packaging could further reduce the appeal to under 18s.

TMA director Chris Ogden told Today: "We are in the grip of a recession and it is hardly the time to knock small businesses by measures such as these.

"It is the retailers more than the manufacturers that are going to be hit by these proposals, and we feel a great deal of concern for them.

"They rely significantly on tobacco sales for their income and by losing sales to the bigger outlets, which is the inevitable result of this, they will also lose opportunity sales from smokers such as newspapers and chocolate bars."

He defended point-of-sale displays: "It is a legal product and it allows consumer choice and competition between manufacturers and retailers."

Mr Johnson said: "We will remove point-of-sale display from big supermarkets first."

But he warned that smaller shops will anyway not be able to rely on tobacco to provide a large slice of their income in future: "The number of people smoking is reducing and will continue to reduce so there needs to be diversification because that is going to happen remorselessly."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown told MPs last month that it was "not good enough" that smoking rates among children had only been cut from 13 per cent to 6 per cent.

The Government has already raised the age limit for buying tobacco from 16 to 18.
http://www.independent.co.uk