Herefordshire licensee to defy ban

A Herefordshire licensee will flout the smoking ban by allowing customers to light up after July 1.

Tony Blows, licensee at the Dog Inn, Ewyas Harold, said he will allow people to continue smoking because he disagrees with the law and believes trade will suffer.

He said: "It's totally out of order, it's a draconian law based on lies and deceit, and yeah, we are fighting it."

Blows said 95 per cent of his customers are smokers, and estimated that 3-4,000 village pubs would close in the first two years of the ban.

He added: "I've put everything into this pub, I'm not going to stand by and let them take it away from me."

The licensee is a member of freedom2choose.co.uk, a pressure group set up to challenge the ban by instigating a judicial review.

Andy Tector, Head of Environmental Health and Trading Standards at Herefordshire Council, said the council's approach to the new legislation would continue to be "measured and calm" but they had a duty to support it.

He said: "Those who trade in breach of the law will be advised accordingly. They will be given the opportunity to comply - they will effectively become masters of their own destiny.

"The law is there to be upheld, and we have a duty to the majority of the public who are non smokers to ensure that the new legislation is enforced."