LITTLEWOOD'S Stores' decision to re-introduce smoking areas in its public restaurants is a welcome positive step-forward in the debate over provision for smokers.
Littlewood's have rejected the prohibitionist route advocated by professional anti-smokers and in doing so join a growing list of other establishments who see that it is common sense to accommodate smokers.
The pitfalls of the prohibitionist route are all too clear.
The hospitality trade loses customers, local councils get a poor public image as smokers gather around the front entrance, and companies suffer from disruptions to the working environment. Accommodating smokers overcomes these problems.
Smokers and tolerant non-smokers get along in their millions every day at home, at work, and at leisure.
Giving equal rights to smokers, alongside non-smokers, is the only solution that will prove lasting.
MARTIN BALL, Information officer, Forest, Palace Street, London SW1.
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