When Did They Stop Smoking in Pubs

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Picture this: it’s the 1990s. You walk into your local boozer, and the air is so thick you could chew it. That yellow haze wasn’t sepia-toned nostalgia; it was pure cigarette smoke.

Pint in one hand, fag in the other. That was the classic pub pose. And nobody batted an eye. You’d nurse a pint of warm bitter while your mate blew smoke rings that looked like Olympic medals.

Barmen (who were always called barmen then) would ashtray-spin like a DJ, clearing the overflowing butts every ten minutes. It was a thing of beauty. And your lungs? They were like a pair of old bellows, just soaking it all up.

The Crunch Point: When Did We All Go ‘Ew, Gross’?

The change came slowly, then all at once. It was like a collective public sneeze. People started saying, “Hmm, maybe I don’t want to taste my neighbour’s Marlboro in my Landlord.”

Ireland led the charge, bless their cotton socks. They banned smoking in workplaces—including pubs—back in 2004. The rest of the UK watched, clutching their cigarettes, looking a bit panicked. “Surely they won’t do it here?” we whispered.

But they did. On July 1, 2007, England went smoke-free. Wales and Northern Ireland followed in April, and Scotland had already jumped the gun in March 2006. That was the day. The day pub carpets finally breathed a sigh of relief.