Beer took the biggest hit, with sales down 7% – around 36 million pints – in the year to March 2007.

Lost beer sales across England and Wales following the ban could equate to 200 million fewer pints being sold, Nielsen forecasts.

Nielsen consultant Graham Page said: “Beer volume is already under pressure south of the border with volume down 4% year on year.

“If we see a further 4% decline via the smoking ban this would equate to a 200 million-pint fall out of the market.”

The British Institute of Innkeeping (BII), which represents licensees across the UK, predicts that around 5,000 pubs will close over the next three to four years.

This will be caused by the existing closure rate being accelerated by the smoking ban, according to BII Chief Executive John McNamara.

He said: “If you are landlocked and heavily drink-led, not food-led, you have got a real problem to try to keep some people in the unit.”

Mr McNamara added that many BII members in England were stepping up their food offerings and making sure their outside space was ready for smokers to use.

The British Beer and Pub Association, whose members account for 98% of beer brewed in the UK and own more than half of Britain’s pubs, said the smoking ban was likely to cause a dip in beer sales and an increase in food trade.

Commenting on the Nielsen figures, BBPA Communications Director Mark Hastingssaid: “This data seems to confirm everything we have been saying about the smoking ban.”

Taken from: http://news.sky.com