Paul White is a consultant at Belgravia Insurance Consultants

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Will the smoking ban affect my investments in UK stocks?
- FR, London

Not a great deal, but I can see lower profits in the leisure sector.

The tobacco companies are held in UK collective funds, because they are tremendously cash-generative.

They have been facing declining usage of their products for many years now and have been developing new markets in the Far East, where smoking bans are some way off.

Therefore, tobacco stocks are not likely to suffer greatly. As far as the public house sector is concerned, I have noticed that their customers have now moved out of doors, killing the atmosphere inside.

This is fine in the summer, but if there is a cold winter, I suspect that home entertainment might grow in popularity at the expense of pubs.

As they tend to occupy prime sites on the high street, which may not include beer gardens, they will have to reposition themselves as gastropubs during the day or dance clubs in the evening.

The location of the pub is paramount in determining its fate, but we can expect many on the outskirts to be demolished to make way for housing.

Paul White