Smoking ban prompts landlords to quit

  

THE landlords of a Suffolk pub have become the first victims of the smoking ban - and last night a campaign group predicted that hundreds of pubs across the country will close as a result of the controversial crackdown.

After more than two years running the Greene King-owned Elephant and Castle in Hospital Road, Bury St Edmunds, licensees Marian and Gareth Thomas have decided to call time on their business.

The couple, who had their plans for a smoking shelter outside the pub turned down, claim the smoking ban was the final straw.

The news prompted Forest, the campaign group for smoker's rights, to warn the pub could be the first of hundreds nationally to be hit by the ban, and warned rural areas looked set to be the worst affected of all.

But opponents, the Action on Smoking and Health group (ASH), said pubs open and close regularly and that it was too early to say what the ban's impact would be.

Landlady at the Elephant and Castle, the 49-year-old Mrs Thomas, said although the ban introduced at the start of the month was not the only reason, it was an important one.

She said: “They weren't coming in before, and after the smoking ban they are still not coming in.

“We have cleaned the pub but it hasn't made a difference. We haven't got a proper smoking shelter and we are really suffering because of this ban.

“We were thinking about doing something else anyway. We don't want to go bankrupt because of this. “We could have been given a choice (to stay or go) but the government hasn't given us a choice.”

Mr Thomas, 47, added: “We are leaving because of poor business and the ban hasn't helped. It is not the only reason.

“Pub trade is slowly declining everywhere but it is hitting traditional drinking pubs.”

Simon Clark, director of Forest, the pro-smoker's rights group, said: “Several hundred pubs could close in the next two years because of the ban.

“We don't expect it to happen immediately. Our big concern is that particularly in rural areas, the local pub is the heart of the community and if they go to the wall it will have a major impact on rural communities.

“The pubs at greatest risk are the “landlocked” pubs that have no outside areas. Smokers will choose those pubs with areas outside with heaters where they can smoke.”

But Simon Dockrell, spokesman for Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) said: “It is regrettable but if this is within weeks of the smoking ban it is likely to be to do with something else.

“The truth is pubs close and pubs open. In Scotland, the smoking ban has not made any difference. In fact there is one more pub in Scotland than before the ban came in.

“Reports from the pub chains, which are just starting to come in, seem to show that it has been pretty good for business.

“Yes, people said they would not go into pubs once the ban took effect but there were also a lot of people who either went rarely or not at all who said they would go more often.”

Greene King was unavailable for comment last night.