The proposed ban is not to protect the health of the non-smokers, but that of the bar staff. Governments have a duty to ensure the Health and safety of workers is protected. If this thread had been about the pub owners insisting that bar staff worked in an environment contaminated by asbestos for example, I'm sure a lot of people would respond saying that the workers health should be protected.

Previous experiments of this kind in Ireland have failed, but in those cases there was another pub down the road where you could smoke, so the people went there instead. It will be a different situation where smoking in all pubs is banned. I expect that from next year onwards, we will be seeing little huddles of smokers in the doorway of the pub grabbing a smoke before going back to their pint, pretty much in the same way as you see people congregating in the doorways of Office blocks at present.