Sun is out and so are the smokers as Welsh ban comes into force

The town of Laugharne, in west Wales, didn't get where it is today by refusing famous Welshmen a drink and a cigarette. But the actor Rhys Ifans came close to missing out on the hospitality afforded for years to Dylan Thomas yesterday as Wales introduced a ban on smoking in pubs.

Only the unseasonable April heat allowed Ifans - lingering here after the successful inaugural Laugharne Weekend festival - to ignore the Cross House pub's smokeless 'Undermilkwood' bar and instead savour his Strongbow cider and Marlboro outside.

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Ifans wasn't taking the ban, which means those found smoking can face on-the-spot fines of £50, very seriously. "Ban smoking, ban drinking, too," he joked.

From now on, smokers in Wales will be prohibited from lighting up in any enclosed public space, from offices to theatre stages to football grounds. The ban is similar to those already imposed in the Republic of Ireland and Scotland, with Northern Ireland set to follow suit on 30 April and England in turn on 1 July.

But for Ifans, the actor whose delivery of Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales for radio was received to huge acclaim, the new law took the village another step away from the "timeless, mild, beguiling island" which was the inspiration for the fictional town of Llareggub in Under Milk Wood. "It's all so politically correct, which isn't what this place is meant to be about," he said.

The actor's friends at the Cross House - including Bruce Reynolds, the so-called "brains" behind the Great Train Robbery, who also appeared at the festival - agreed. "It's good news for dope smokers. They won't be on their own outside any more," said one. "It's completely screwed up Ireland and let's hope the same thing doesn't happen to Wales," said another.

Laugharne has been preparing for this day for months. The Mariners pub, where Thomas might well have tottered in after a night in his beloved Browns Hotel, a few doors down the street, is now a roofless shell furnished with benches for smokers to seek refuge with their drink. The replacement 'New Mariners', a more sanitised place with smoke extractors and no smoking stickers, has been built across the road.

"There are certainly some regulars we might lose or see less of and in some cases that might not be a bad thing," joked Richard Pearce, manager of the New Mariners. "It's not the same as the pubs up the Valleys. We're catering to a lot of tourists who don't want the smoke."

The walls of the New Mariners are adorned with a few of the tokens which place the original Mariners in a rich, smoke-filled working class tradition. They include an All Blacks rugby shirt signed by their player Justin Marshall in recognition of a memorable evening or two.

Local Glyndwr Jenkins, sitting with a pint of Guinness , accepted the change. "I don't smoke and if it means a better environment then so much the better," he said. "A bit of the soul has been lost from this place. But the tourism has helped our economic development and a smoke-free pub is a part of that."

At the bar, Ron Roderick said he expected some of the traditional trade would be lost. "Seventy per cent of people are smokers in most pubs in Laugharne."

But health bodies and politicians have welcomed the ban, stressing the long-term health benefits of less exposure to passive smoking. Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan described the ban, voted for by the Welsh Assembly four years ago, as its "single most important health measure."

Welsh rugby star Gavin Henson, expecting his first child with one of the nation's most famous contemporary smokers, Charlotte Church, has enrolled as an ambassador to encourage the Welsh to quit, as the ban is introduced. If that fails, there are 500 new enforcement officers to keep an eye on the pubs.

What would Thomas have made of all this? Drink might have helped him cope with the changing times, according to Ifans. "I don't think he would have realised what was happening," he declared.

The impact of the ban elsewhere

While the arguments on the social effects of the smoking ban in Ireland and Scotland may have died down, there is still much controversy over the potential economic impact.

A survey last year by the Scottish Grocers Federation said cigarette sales had gone up by five per cent since the ban in enclosed public spaces was introduced in March last year: 61,000 more cigarette packets a week were being sold in Scotland. Researches believe people are smoking more at home. Other figures claim smoking is down by five per cent. The tobacco company Imperial said the dip was twice the decrease found in the rest of the UK.

Some analysts argue that more time is needed to evaluate fully the long-term economic impact.

And some drinks companies have also warned the ban will hit profits this year - Scottish & Newcastle said the ban would cost it at least £10m. Other brewers have argued that increased food sales have negated the losses caused by the smoking ban.

But various polls in Ireland and Scotland have found one thing in common - most of the public questioned after the imposition of the ban supported it.