The UK-wide tobacco display ban in small stores including corner shops and newspaper agents is now in force since Monday (April 6) – a ban that was already in place in supermarkets since 2012.
Under the new rules, shopkeepers will be required to conceal packets of tobacco and cigarettes in cupboards or behind curtains where they can’t be readily seen. Further, shop owners can only promote cigarettes by putting up a price list, price labels on shelves, and plain posters saying “cigarettes sold here”.
The step has been welcomed with open arms by anti-smoking campaigners across the UK. Hazel Cheeseman, of the charity Action On Smoking And Health, said that two-thirds of smokers start before the age of 18 and a step such as this one would will prove to be a protective one for future generations.
“The display ban in small shops will work with standardised packs, which will be introduced in May 2016, to further protect children from glitzy tobacco packaging”, Cheeseman said.
However, owners of small shops and newspaper agents across the UK have raised concerns over how this ban could increase their troubles. According to Tobacco Retailers’ Alliance as much as a third of the turnover of a typical newsagent comes from tobacco sales and this measure is a rather unnecessary burden on shops which are already struggling with red tape.
Danesmoore post office owner Nirmit Jadeja is one of the thousands aggrieved who believe that the ban is going to have a negative effect on their business. Jadeja, from a business perspective, dubs this decision as a damaging one. Couple this with the rule of plain packaged cigarettes which will be in force in 2016, Jadeja says that the government isn’t introducing legislation based on hard evidence and instead of reducing red tape to make it easier for small shop owners to do business, this rule will increase transaction times, implementation costs including installation of new gantries among other issues.
