Ashes to ashes: Smoking ban one year on

Chaos was predicted when the smoking ban was first introduced on 1 July last year. But apart from a drop in nicotine-addicted regulars down the pub, it seems there was smoke without fire in the majority of workplaces. Louise Druce looks at the law a year on.

It's not unusual to see little groups of smokers hanging around outside the office or huddled in a smoking shelter to get their nicotine fix, but it is hardly the backlash expected when the smoking ban came into force on 1 July last year.