Ashtrays, blue haze, and the smell of cigarette smoke were woven into everyday life.
In the 1960s and 70s, smoking was a common activity in Britain, and it was everywhere. Cigarettes were a part of daily life. People smoked at work, at home, in cafés, on public transport, and even while watching a film at the cinema.
It was so normal that it barely registered as remarkable.
Today, it feels almost unimaginable. But at the time, it was simply how things were.
A Nation of Smokers
By the early 1960s, Britain was a nation of smokers, and smoking rates were at their peak. Around half of all adults smoked, with cigarettes heavily advertised and culturally acceptable. It was even presented as something that was desirable. Smoking was associated with sophistication, relaxation, and adulthood. For young people, it was also a sign of rebellion.
There were health warnings, and early medical reports had made the connection of smoking to lung cancer, but they were easy for people to ignore. The warnings were often drowned out by advertising that linked smoking with a life of glamour and freedom.
It took a long time for a shift in public opinion to arrive. At the time, for many, smoking was a part of life and popular. Cigarettes were cheap, widely available, and socially accepted almost everywhere. It was the norm. In fact, you might be considered the odd one out if you didn’t smoke.
Smoking in the Home
I lived in a home where all the adults smoked. My parents, grandparents, relatives, and just about every adult who visited would quickly light up a cigarette or be offered one. My memory is of every adult smoking. Another memory that I have is of the smoke stains on the upper part of walls and ceilings. Cigarette smoke rises; it has nowhere to go but up. Brightly painted or papered walls would develop a cigarette smoke shadow.
I have never smoked, but for the first fifteen to twenty years of my life I was a passive smoker. At the time I had no idea that was the case, but later I became aware of it, after the death of the British entertainer, Roy Castle, in 1994. Castle died of lung cancer, which, as he was a non-smoker, he believed happened while working in the smoke-filled rooms of jazz clubs in the 1960s. As far as I know, my lungs survived the passive smoking years.
Smoking at School
At school, I knew certain boys that smoked. Yes, they would usually find a secretive place to go for a cigarette, sometimes behind the bike sheds. That place was too obvious, though, and boys caught there would end up in the headmaster’s office for ‘six of the best’.
I was never tempted.
A mate of mine was given the nickname JP, after John Player, the name of the company that made the cigarettes that he smoked. Later, we would call him ‘Wheezer’, as he would always end up coughing his lungs out when cross-country running.
Smoking on the Move
Trains had smoking and non-smoking carriages, while on buses, smoking sections were common, often upstairs or at the back. It didn’t make any difference, though; the smoke drifted everywhere regardless in such a confined space. Bus journeys were accompanied by the smell of tobacco, the flick of matches, and ashtrays built directly into the fittings. Windows would be open, not for fresh air as much as smoke management.
Smoking in Cinemas and Clubs
Cinemas were another smoky stronghold. Ashtrays were fixed to the backs of seats, and audiences lit up as soon as the lights dimmed. The glow of cigarette tips could be seen like stars in the darkness, as smoke rose toward the projector beam. As for the stars on the silver screen, they smoked as well, projecting that glamour associated with smoking.
In the mid-seventies, I got a job at a working men’s club. I was a glass washer and general dogsbody behind the main bar. Too young to serve drinks to customers, but I did everything else, including changing the barrels of beer. But there was a part of the job that I never liked, cleaning the ashtrays. As the night went on, slowly they would fill up with the ash and butts of cigarettes, hundreds of them. I found it all disgusting, but somebody had to clean them, and that somebody was the dogsbody.
On an average night in the club, the smoke sometimes resembled a fog. They even had a ‘smoking room’, although I’m not sure why, as people smoked in every room anyway.
The smell lingered long after closing time. Whether you were a smoker or not, after a night out, you would have the aroma of cigarette smoke in clothes and hair. It was difficult to remove because as soon as you did, there was always another smoke-filled room waiting. For non-smokers, there was little choice but to tolerate it. Complaining wasn’t the norm. Smoking was simply part of life.
Workplaces, Shops, and Schools
For adults, smoking in workplaces was routine and often allowed. Offices had ashtrays on desks. Meetings took place through clouds of smoke. Teachers even smoked in staff rooms, and sometimes during break, even in classrooms. I remember one teacher, who took us for woodwork, who would roll his own cigarettes, and light up in his office, while us boys were attempting to make something from whatever wood was available.
Smoking and Sport
Cricket was a game I played at school, but when it came to the professional game, tobacco companies sponsored some big competitions. On Sunday, there was the John Player League. It was the shortest form of the game at the time, forty overs for each side. The longer format of the one-day game, fifty-five overs, was also sponsored by a tobacco company, Benson and Hedges. The actual trophy teams played for was called the Benson and Hedges Cup.
Other sports like Formula One, rugby, snooker, darts, and ice hockey were also sponsored by tobacco companies. They were lucrative markets for the tobacco companies, especially after a ban on direct television advertising was introduced in the mid-sixties. All of these sports were televised, providing "free" advertising for the tobacco companies. It wasn’t until the late 1990s that they were banned by law.
When the Mood Began to Change
The 1970s marked the beginning of a gradual shift. Health campaigns became more visible. Advertising restrictions increased, and television advertising was banned. Slowly, smoking on television was seen as less glamorous than it once had been. Some public spaces began experimenting with non-smoking areas.
Still, the change was slow. Smoking was deeply ingrained, and many people saw restrictions as unnecessary or even intrusive. The idea that smoking might be banned entirely from public indoor spaces would have seemed extreme to most.
It wasn’t until the late 20th and early 21st centuries that attitudes truly transformed, culminating in the UK’s comprehensive indoor smoking ban in 2007.
Looking back, what stands out most is how normalised smoking was. For some of us, the smell of cigarettes is woven into memories of everyday life: our homes, our travel, cinemas, waiting rooms, family gatherings, etc. It’s not always a fond memory, but it is one that is remembered.
Today, smoking is tightly regulated, socially discouraged, and largely absent from our lives. As the years pass, statistics suggest that fewer and fewer people are smoking. The idea of lighting up on a bus or during a film now would be looked on with horror. And parents are probably more aware of passive smoking, and the effect it might have on their children.
But for those of us who lived through the 1960s and 70s, it was just another part of daily life. It was accepted, unquestioned, and everywhere.
Image by DesignCoon from Pixabay
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