Dining pub bans smoking for good

Customers at Britain's "best dining pub" have given an overwhelming thumbs up to the stubbing out of cigarettes on the premises ­ forever.

Nearly 80% of patrons of the Howard Arms in Ilmington, near Chipping Campden, Gloucester-shire, have said yes to a total smoking ban beginning in March.

The pub was recently named as Britain Best Dining Pub in the Good Pub Guide- and was listed in Michelin's first stand-alone guide to pubs published last year.

Owner Rob Greenstock, who employs 40 local people at the pub, said front-of-house staff were now being given extra training to enforce the ban.

"We noticed that over the last couple of years less and less of our customers were smoking, so with a national smoking ban likely to be coming in anyway we decided to get a true snapshot of what our customers thought of having a ban," he said.

"To find out we did a month-long survey and found that 78% said they would prefer to have no smoking whatsoever.

"If you add those who did not mind either way, the level of support is actually 89%. We thought that was a very clear message."

Mr Greenstock, who has owned the Howard Arms for six years, said the response to the announcement had also been favourable.

"We've just had one customer, a regular, who told us quite emphatically that the 28 of February would be the last time we see him," he said.

"He has been the only person to express any objections."

Staff who deal with the customers are being given special training to help them deal with customers who light up in the pub and a rear garden is being made more comfortable for smokers.