Smoking ban helps 50,000 Londoners quit the habit

Almost 50,000 smokers have quit the habit in London since the smoking ban was introduced.

Figures reveal 52 per cent of people who attempted to give up cigarettes in the past year have been successful.

Asian people were the most likely to succeed, with 55 per cent of the 6,415 who tried to quit still not smoking four weeks later.

In total almost 93,481 Londoners set themselves a quit date, and 48,825 stuck to it. But only just over half of the pregnant women who tried to stop smoking were able to quit for good. Figures from the NHS Information centre show 1,373 women set a quit date, but only 737 (54 per cent) were successful.

The figures reveal that the NHS spent £173 on every person who tried to stop smoking in the past year, compared with £160 the year before. But in 2001 the figure was £206 per quitter. In total almost £61 million was spent on NHS stop smoking services in 2007/08.

Barking and Dagenham has the highest proportion of adult smokers in London - with almost a third admitting to the habit - followed by Lambeth, Bexley, Southwark, Havering and Islington on almost 30 per cent. Harrow has the lowest smoking rate at 14.5 per cent, followed by Redbridge at 17.6 per cent.

Across the capital 21 per cent of people smoke, compared with a national average of 22 per cent.