Impact of socioeconomic deprivation and type of facility on perceptions of the Scottish smoke-free legislation.

Sirs, The Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005 prohibited smoking in all wholly and substantially enclosed public places in Scotland from 26 March 2006. The Act requires owners and managers to take ‘all reasonable precautions’ to prevent smoking and to maintain written records of breaches. The hospitality sector expressed concerns that a total ban might be difficult to enforce and adversely affect business. One year post-legislation, we administered a structured questionnaire, by telephone, to the managers of all non-food-serving bars and unlicensed cafés in East Ayrshire, Scotland, to determine perceptions of the legislation and its impact on business, and whether these varied according to whether facilities served food and alcohol, and by the deprivation category of their location. Of the 73 non-food-serving bars and 94 unlicensed cafés, 69 (95%) and 91 (96%) respectively, participated. After implementation, 81 (50%) managers supported the ban and 82 (51%) reported that most or all customers were supportive. One hundred and twenty (76%) managers had received one or more complaints from customers. Seventy (44%) managers reported an adverse effect on business, but 50 (31%) reported that business had improved. Following the ban, customer support was higher in cafés than in bars (x test, P 1⁄4 0.026). Sixty four (94%) non-food-serving bars had received customer complaints, compared with only 56 (62%) unlicensed cafés (x test, P, 0.001). Fourteen (20%) bar managers reported an improvement in business and 33 (45%) a decline. This compared with 36 (40%) and 37 (41%) café managers respectively (x test for trend, P, 0.001). After adjustment for deprivation category and the smoking status of the respondent, café managers were