"I JOKINGLY said to people that I started smoking again just so I wouldn't be left inside on my own, looking after everybody's drinks - and there's definitely something in that, even if it isn't an exclusive reason."

So says Kevin Bates, a musician from Tonge Moor, who found himself returning to the ranks of Britain's smokers, despite the fact that smoking inside a public place is now illegal.

It seems that the ban has had a drastic effect on the social lives of many Bolton people - and it's not only the smokers who have been relegated to going outside the pub doors.

Non-smoker Laura Waterworth, from Halliwell, says: "You get left in the pub on your own - and it sucks.

"And the pubs definitely smell worse than they did. I wasn't bothered about the smell of smoke - both my parents smoke at home."

Smoker Lauren Alergant, from Harwood, said: "It's affected other people's social lives more than mine - I've got talking to loads of people while I've been having a cigarette outside.

"But I feel bad for my friends who are left inside looking after the drinks."

A complete ban on smoking in enclosed public places was introduced in July last year to mixed reactions.

Anti-smoking campaigners welcomed the act, saying it would reduce the risks of passive smoking and provide a safer, more healthy environment for bar staff.

Certainly, a study by the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre in Warwick last October found that air quality was higher in 40 pubs, bars and restaurants across the country since the ban.

And with the unseasonably warm weather enjoyed by Brits late last year, the predicted social effects of the ban were slow to materialise.

In fact, the term "smirting" was coined to describe the practice of flirting with fellow smokers while outside having a cigarette.

But with Bolton now well and truly in the grip of winter, smokers - and the pub landlords and club managers who cater for them - are finding that the ban is starting to bite.

Jez Smith, from Bury, said: "It's made me ill because I keep having to go outside in the cold for a cigarette. I've had more colds this year than ever before."

Neil Piper, landlord of the Dog and Partridge, in Bank Street, Bolton, says he has definitely noticed a drop-off in the number of people going out socially over the festive season.

He says: "It's definitely shown over Christmas. I haven't heard of a single pub in town that was more than half full.

"Someone I know in Blackburn usually takes £16,000 over Christmas and New Year - this year they took £9,000."

Neil also says he has seen more trouble outside pubs since the introduction of the ban.

"If you kick someone out, then you can't go out for a cigarette because they'll start on you, or they start on your customers," he says.

"And people who shouldn't be in your pub - who are barred or who haven't paid to get in on a particular night - are sneaking in with groups of smokers when they go back inside.

"There's also lots of trouble because you can't stop idiots walking past hassling your customers - one of our bar staff was egged in the face while he was outside having a cigarette."

Another possible consequence of the ban is more sinister. Many smokers say they fear leaving their drinks inside (it is illegal to take drinks out on to the street) as they are at risk of having them spiked.

Sharon Middleton, from Deane, who was with her friend Kath May, from Halliwell, at The Albion pub, said: "You can't take your drinks outside in a lot of places, and if you leave them they might get spiked.

"It's definitely changed our social habits. We come out in the afternoon now instead, because you can leave your drink and feel safe."

Alex Fox, from Farnworth, added: "It's not actually that bad, but it does annoy you when you have to stand outside in the rain, especially because you have to leave your drinks alone - I've had a drink spiked as a consequence - and I have been going out less."

Garry Cook, who is studying for an MA in international photojournalism, documentary and travel photography at the University of Bolton, thought that the effects of the ban on the social lives of people in the North-west were so interesting he decided to photograph them for his degree show.

And his photographs will be included at an exhibition at Manchester's new Richard Goodall Gallery For Contemporary Art.

Preston-based Garry, who completes his course in October, says: "On the first day of the ban I went to a pub in Blackpool where this guy is still defying the ban now, and there were people there who hadn't smoked for 20 years who were having a fag in the pub because they disagreed with this law.

"There is a lot of anger - sometimes pointed at me, and sometimes at my camera and sometimes at the Government.

"But, on the whole, the smokers were very chatty and thought of themselves as being defiant together - and that's not something you get these days in society, people being united over a current affairs issue.

"There was a sense of defiance that they were still doing what they wanted to do, even if they had to go outside to do it."

Smoking ban: the facts

  • The smoking ban was introduced in July 2007.
  • There are around 10 million smokers in Britain.
  • In Bolton, between April and September last year, 1,124 people quit smoking.
  • Since the ban, eight people in Bolton have been issued with fixed penalty notices for flouting the ban.
  • Hugh Howitt, from Blackpool, was the first landlord to be fined for breaking the new law in November last year. He received a £500 fine.