3 years since Labour first brought the smoking ban into effect, and the new Coalition Government has scrapped it's predecessor's plans to review the smoking ban, which is raising hopes within the pub industry that extra measures will not be implemented.

A spokeswoman for the Department Of Health has confirmed that the plans will be scrapped. “There are no plans to review the smoking ban at the present time.” she said.

This comes shortly after Bill Sharp, chairman of the Guild of Master Victuallers (GMV), spoke out against the proposed review, warning that the ban could potentially be extended to outside pubs and in beer gardens, which would severely damage the pub industry.

"This would be utterly devastating, especially for smaller more traditional pubs and would accelerate their decline," said Bill Sharp.

He then added: "The coalition has the opportunity to stop the review and it should take it - they have claimed to be focused on deregulation and on opening Britain for business. This is a great opportunity for them to walk their talk and relax the rules."

The GMV has also published figures which show that, since the ban came into effect, 4,148 pubs have closed. This represents a significant decline of 7.6% within the pub industry during the last 3 years.