The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: The UK government proposes introducing partial smokefree legislation with exemptions for pubs and bars that do not prepare and serve food. Non-food serving pubs are disproportionately found in deprived areas. We investigated whether pubs from more deprived areas and which do not serve food have higher levels of particulate air pollution.

Methods: We recruited 64 pubs from across North West of England. Pubs were divided into four groups based on whether their local population was affluent or deprived, and whether or not they served food. Fine particles (PM2.5) were measured over a minimum of 30 minutes in areas where smoking was allowed using portable real time air quality monitors (TSI SidePak AM510). Monitoring was stratified to ensure a similar distribution of monitoring by day of the week and time of evening in all four groups.

Results: Mean time-time weighted average PM2.5 was 285.5 mg/m3 (95% CI 212.7 to 358.3). Levels were higher in pubs in deprived communities: mean 383.6 mg/m3 (95% CI 249.2 to 518.0) vs 187.4 mg/m3 (144.8 to 229.9); geometric mean 245.2 mg/m3 vs 151.2 mg/m3 (p=0.03). There was little difference in particulate levels between food and non-food serving pubs.

This study demonstrates that the UK government's proposals for smokefree legislation in the UK will offer the least protection to the most heavily exposed group - bar workers and customers in non-food serving pubs in deprived areas. The results suggest that the current proposals will work against the stated UK government's stated aim to reduce health inequalities.