Hundreds of licensees in Manchester may voluntarily ban smoking in their pubs as a protest against a food-led smoking ban.
Members of the Manchester Pubs and Clubs Network will make their premises smoke-free regardless of whether they serve food if the government confirms that it is to introduce a ban on smoking in food pubs.
Phil Burke, spokesman for the Manchester Pubs and Clubs Network, told The Publican: "If the worst comes to the worst, we will ask our members to ban smoking voluntarily".
The network was inspired to threaten the move after members were impressed by the blanket ban in Ireland on a recent visit. Its 600 members voted overwhelmingly to support a blanket ban in England and to maintain opposition to a ban with exceptions for food pubs.
Mr Burke said he was certain many wet-led pubs in Manchester would make the move to ban smoking voluntarily. "We have a really good network and record of doing things voluntarily," he said. "Things such as our safer glassware and bogus taxi campaigns could have had a negative impact but we still did them."
Members of the network agreed that the food-led ban was the wrong move by the government. Andrew O'Dwyer, licensee of Pure Space on New Wakefield Street, said: "If we are going to have a smoking ban, it has to be with no exceptions. It will create an unlevel playing field.
"I myself will have to decide whether to take away food. What people don't acknowledge is that this will only help to increase the possibility of binge-drinking."