Smoking ban would be 'disastrous' for Norfolk's pubs

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to extend the indoor smoking ban to outdoor locations including outdoor restaurants, outside football stadiums and on pavements near nightclubs - according to leaked government proposals seen by The Sun newspaper.

The prime minister announced today that the government will “take decisions” to ban smoking to curb preventable deaths and reduce pressure on the NHS, which he said is a burden on the taxpayer.

But Norfolk’s pub landlords say the ban would be “disastrous” for the region’s already struggling pubs.

Phil Cutter, landlord of The Murderers pub in Norwich’s Timber Hill (Image: Denise Bradley)

Phil Cutter, landlord of The Murderers pub in Norwich’s Timber Hill, which has a smoking area outside the front of the pub, said: “Banning smoking outside is a step too far.

“We were forced into the smoking ban back in 2007, which people thought at the time was going to be death knell for pubs.

“As an industry we’ve been resilient and had to work hard to make our venues better.

“We don’t see as many people smoking as we used to, but the problem I have is it will be plonked on publicans’ laps and we’ll be left to manage and enforce it.

“If landlords say to people ‘you can’t smoke in the pub garden’ and they then go out to the car park – is that an area where they can smoke?

“We’ve got tables outside the front of the pub, so we’ll have to tell people they can’t smoke inside the barriers, but they can’t drink outside the barriers.

“You’ll have the anti-smoking brigade pushing for this, but they are probably people who don’t use pubs anyway.

“It will only make things more difficult for us.”

The Murderers pub in Timber Hill, Norwich (Image: Newsquest)

Paul Sandford, landlord of The Railway Tavern in Dereham, said the ban will be “another death knell” for pubs.

“Beer and cigarettes go hand in hand for people who smoke,” he said.

“I would say 40pc of people who come drink here still smoke. We’re fortunate to have a big outside smoking area, which could be segregated if it needs to be.

“If it’s a blanket ban it will be disastrous – but if it’s a case of allowing people to smoke in a designated area we can get over that.

“The same as it used to be in pubs years ago where there was a snug which people smoked in and people who didn’t want to smoke went the other side of the bar – it would have to be the same with the gardens.”

Paul Sandford, landlord of The Railway Tavern in Dereham (Image: Newsquest)

However, Harry Brown, one of the bar managers at the Coach and Horses in Norwich’s Thorpe Road, said “fewer and fewer” people smoke at the pub and the pub industry will survive the ban.

The pub has a large outdoor area under a marque, which he said cost a “substantial" amount to build. 

“I don’t think people will stop going to pubs if they can’t use an outdoor area to smoke,” he said.

“I imagine it will be a case of people who still want to smoke will have to step off the property.

“I don’t think it will shut the entire pub industry down. I think we will survive, and people will work around it.”

The outdoor area at the Coach and Horses in Thorpe Road, Norwich, with bar manager Cameron Dallas (Image: Newsquest)

Sir Keir said today (Thursday) that more than 80,000 people lose their lives every year because of smoking, which are preventable deaths.

He said: “It’s a huge burden on the NHS, and, of course, it’s a burden on the taxpayer. So, yes, we are going to take decisions in this space.

“More details will be revealed, but this is a preventable series of deaths, and we’ve got to take the action to reduce the burden on the NHS and reduce the burden on the taxpayer.”