Most businesses affected by the smoking ban are happy with the result, according to government sources, but at least one establishment has been hit by an $80,000 loss in trade as pub patrons went up in smoke.

Rotorua's historic Lake House Hotel was purchased by Ian Frith and Teresa Scally more than five years ago and the couple turned the institution into a thriving little business, according to a WIN party release.

The couple undertook a plan of restoration and turned the hotel into a popular backpacker destination, but bar regulars disappeared with the advent of the smoking ban, WIN said, dropping profits for the first six months of the ban by $80 000 in contrast to the corresponding period the year before.

This drop in profitability has had a flow-on effect. Restoration work has slowed, backpacker accommodation rates have been heavily discounted to maintain a cash flow, and Ian and Teresa are no longer able to afford to pay wages, WIN said.

Teresa has taken on most of the hotel’s day-to-day workload and Ian has had to find other work.

"This was never a whim investment for us. We came into this business with our eyes open and knowing we’d be in for the long haul. We knew we’d be committed to considerable financial and time investment, but we had a solid business plan and the enthusiasm to see it through to completion," Ms Scally said.

"There were plenty of variables we had to take into account when formulating the long term plan. We allowed for a possible downturn in economic growth, fluctuating exchange and interest rates, building material price increases, demographic changes and a host of others. In hindsight, what we needed back then was a magical crystal ball, so we could’ve foreseen the coming of the smoking ban, and the effect it would have," she said.

"The politicians who pushed for the ban assured us all that we’d see a lot more non-smokers once the ban was in place and bars were smoke-free. This might have happened for other bars, but certainly not here at the Lake House.

"This is where we again need the magical crystal ball so we can see if things are going to pick up for us. I cannot honestly say how long we can sustain losses at the rate we’ve suffered to date, or the physical strain and psychological stress, the ban’s inflicted upon us.

"I know we’re only one business and maybe this government calculated that a sacrifice of x number of businesses was the price they were prepared to pay when forcing the ban into law, but they never asked us if we wanted to be part of their sacrificial offering," Ms Scally said.

The WIN party is a single-issue party dedicated to stamping out the smoking ban.

Earlier this month, party founder and former publican John van Buren said the anti-smoking rule had forced his Wheatsheaf Tavern into liquidation in April.

In another announcement, the WIN party said that Dannevirke’s Masonic Hotel had lost $115,000 during the first six months of the smoking ban, which went into effect on 10 December 2004, in comparison to the corresponding six-month period from 10 December 2003.