Publican forks out £1k for ignoring smoking ban and serving outside licensed hours

30-Oct-2012 - Last updated on 30-Oct-2012 at 08:46 GMT

A licensee in Acton, west London, has had to fork out more than £1,000 after serving drinks outside of his licensing hours and allowing customers to smoke in his pub.

Following a member of the public’s report, an Ealing Council licensing officer and police visited the Clare Inn on Acton High Street at 9am on 22 May 2012.

Ealing Magistrates Court heard that several people had pints of Guinness, some of whom were also smoking or rolling cigarettes. Two of those with cigarettes sat below a ‘no smoking’ sign.

The till receipt showed the drinks had been served at 8.40am despite the licensing hours being 10am to 1am, Monday to Sunday.

Licensee Michael Foley pleaded guilty on Friday 19 October to allowing alcohol to be served at 8.40am and failing to prevent people smoking on his premises.

He was ordered to pay £250 for the licensing offence, £50 for allowing smoking, a £15 victim surcharge and full prosecution costs of £860.43, bringing the total to £1175.43.

Cabinet member for community services and safety Ranjit Dheer said: “I hope this is a costly warning to anyone thinking they could get away with ignoring the law.”

It is completely unacceptable to ignore the law and allow smoking in a pub which shouldn’t even have been serving customers at the time. I hope this prosecution will serve as a costly warning to anyone thinking they could get away with it.”