Bloomberg News reported that England’s smoking ban has contributed to a 6% drop in U.K. cigarette sales since it was enacted July 1, 2007, according to data released Monday by Nielsen.

British smokers bought 2.1 billion fewer cigarettes in the ten months through April 2008, Nielsen found, while sales of alcoholic beverages in bars declined by 8% during the same time period.

The findings suggest the smoking restrictions, which prohibit indoor smoking in public places, may have had a stronger effect on bar owners than tobacco companies.  According to Nielsen’s survey, more than two-fifths of Britons now go out to drink in bars less often than they did before the ban.