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.