Sir.-I fully agree with the anonymous author of the letter urging all smokers to vote with their feet and boycott any bars, cafes and restaurants that have anti-smoking policies.

Please do, and let us non-smokers enjoy clean air without the risk of returning to our homes with clothes tainted with the smell of their freedom to smoke.

I, too, will also vote with my feet and take my business to those places that do not allow smoking, as well as encouraging others to do the same!

It is time for the non-smokers to fight back before it's too late - not only for our clothes, but for our lungs and health.

I welcome the appointment of the borough's new smoke-free eating and drinking project officer, Billie Ponsford, and I look forward to having a greater choice of places where I can go without having to share with smokers.

I look forward to a time when I can even walk in the streets of Basingstoke without being assaulted with the clouds of smoke exhaled by all those smokers who have no understanding or consideration of the effects of their addiction on those around them.

In particular, I look forward to being able to enter and leave the new shopping centre without having to run the gauntlet of their fumes and the debris of their discarded cigarette ends thrown casually on the pavements!

-Name and address withheld.

Sir.-I do not smoke. That is my personal choice. I recognise that others do smoke.

That is their personal choice.

Everyone is aware of the cost and health risk attached to smoking, and is capable of making up their own mind.

If I sit in a smoky bar, it is not a case of smokers imposing their will on me. It is a case of the management not having arranged something that caters for both sides. I can, of course, choose to visit somewhere less smoky.

Clearly, some of your non-smoking readers would wish to force smokers to quit, or else consign them to the inconvenience and ignominy of going outside. I do not subscribe to such an intolerant stand.

We should, of course, consider the health of those who work in pubs, etc. I do not see why pubs cannot provide smoke rooms without service bars, which staff would need to visit only infrequently.

I would wish that our new smoke-free eating and drinking project officer would encourage ways to provide smoking and non-smoking areas. This has been done in some places.

I accept that there will be a few pubs where this may not be possible, but I am sure most pubs could provide for both sides with a little imagination.

-Denis McMahon, Barn Lane, Oakley, Basingstoke.