At our club in Maidstone, we agree with Richard Bridge when it comes to outright bans.

However, on guest nights we do ban smoking, because guests sing for much longer periods than floor singers, and it was felt that a ban would be justified. We keep an ashtray just outside the door and let smokers know it is there.

Myself and the club treasurer both smoke, so we decided to try an experiment. On singers nights we both smoke outside the room, while leaving ashtrays on the tables, and making no comment. When asked about this by patrons, we explain that we don't feel we have the right to make non smokers share our cigarettes.

We've now reached the stage where hardly anyone smokes in the room, and they all have a good feeling because they chose to smoke outside.

Everybody's happy, and we've yet to lose a single patron. The air's much sweeter when you go back in too.

Don T.