Club Institute Union supports call for smoking rooms

Full credit to Freedom2Choose for reporting this.

The most enduring paragraph is the one that Freedom2Choose itself highlights. CIU Vice President John Tobin's address on the issue is reported:

So-called independent reports had been submitted to the Government to the effect that there was no evidence of overall financial damage  being done to industry as a result of the smoking ban. “What a load of rubbish,” he exclaimed. Less than two years into the ban, local authorities had been instructed to consider claims for reductions in business rates directly attributable to the ban. Bissett Kenning & Newiss represented about 700 clubs making a claim. Ninety-five per cent were successful and the average rebate was 10 per cent of rates  to continue on a year-by-year basis. There is your firm evidence of real and substantial damage caused by the smoking ban.

Even the authorities have acknowledged links between poor performance and the smoking ban.