A survey of pubs and working men's clubs has raised concern that government proposals for smoke-free working places will leave at least half of them beyond the reach of new laws which are expected to go through parliament next year.
Exemptions to a smoking ban in "wet" pubs and clubs - which offer drinks without food apart from crisps and peanuts - will leave customers free to puff away without restrictions, according to researchers in the north-east.
The number of licensed premises untouched by the ban, on present plans by the Department of Health, would reach 81% in the Easington area of Northumberland, according to the study, commissioned by Fresh, the campaign to make the north-east region smoke-free.
Just over half the pubs and clubs in Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency would also escape the ban, leaving their staff obliged to work in surroundings where they suffer from inhaling other people's smoke.
The survey warns that the extent of exemption - far higher than Department of Health estimates of between ten and 20% of bars - will also be swollen if private clubs are allowed to decide the issue by a members' vote, as currently proposed.
"This would be democratic for the members but only for them," said Ailsa Rutter of Fresh, which is supported by all 16 primary care trusts in the north-east. "It would be a decision enforced on club staff who have to be there for long periods of time."
The survey also raises concern that areas with the highest likely rate of exemption to the ban are also among the least healthy in Britain. Sedgefield has the highest lung cancer death rates of any local authority in the north-east and Easington is also a blackspot.
"But we see no reason for figures to be very different in other parts of the country," said Ms Rutter.
Kevin Rowan, north-east regional secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said: "Every one of us has the right to a safe workplace. Second hand smoke is the hidden industrial disease of the 21st century and a total ban is the only answer."
"Ending smoking in every workplace will protect non-smokers and will encourage thousands of smokers to quit."
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "The proposal in the white paper to make smoke-free bars and pubs that prepare and serve food was based on many factors.
"Public opinion was crucial to the decision and showed the public were far less supportive of measures to make all bars and pubs smoke-free. We are currently consulting on the proposals in the white paper before legislation goes to parliament, and will look carefully at all evidence put forward."
