The Botany, Maryhill, Glasgow

Pub profile

A typical one-room bar with sandstone-faced tenements above it, the Botany is land-locked, apart from a small area cut into the steeply sloping hillside at the rear.

The pub is totally driven by wet sales with no space for a catering kitchen and competes with many similar bars in this mostly working-class district of Glasgow. Licensee Steven Miln has run the Punch outlet for four and a half years and started to prepare for the ban at the beginning of this year.

Steps taken

About £13,000 has been spent converting the 32ft by 8ft back yard into a patio with bench seating, tables and chairs, an awning and heaters. The patio opened for business in mid-July. Miln reports no problems in gaining planning permission.

Other initiatives

A small barbecue has been installed at the back and free burgers are handed out to customers on Tuesday nights during open-mic sessions inside the sound-proofed bar area; free soup and sandwiches are available during big matches on Saturdays and Sundays; and events such as cabaret, karaoke and race nights are staged regularly to attract trade.

End results

Miln says the shelter is the pub's unique selling point. "None of the other pubs around here has one," he adds. "The shelter has proved so popular that we have attracted people from other pubs.

"But it is difficult to say how the ban has

affected sales because money is tight and trade fluctuates in this area. If people have money, they go out and we're full, but the next night we could be almost empty."

He adds: "My friend runs a pub in Cork and warned me about the effects the ban would have, based on his experience. We've tried to look after valued customers. About 85% of our regulars smoke but we haven't lost any."

While the patio is within earshot of many apartments, it has received no noise

complaints: "Our customers respect the fact that there are people living all around us."

As for winter trade, he says: "I am worried, but we'll just wait and see. We may gain custom from pubs who don't offer the same facilities."