GREATER Manchester's anti-smoking `tsar' today vowed to try to close a pub whose landlord is leading a rebellion against the smoking ban.
Coun Pat Karney, NHS director of Smoke Free Greater Manchester, branded a `mass light up' held at The Swan in Bolton yesterday a `flagrant breach of the law'.
He said he would write to Bolton council demanding that the pub's licence is taken away.
Coun Karney told the M.E.N. today: "You cannot pick and choose which laws you obey."
But landlord Nick Hogan - who branded the ban `unprecedented state interference in private enterprise'- said Coun Karney could `put it in his pipe and smoke it'.
He added: "This just goes to show that this country is be coming a dictatorship.What is it coming to if people cannot have a peaceful protest? It is not on."
A large crowd - many more than the usual Sunday trade - gathered at the pub on Churchgate to defy the ban. Mr Hogan, who could be fined up to £2,500, vowed to fight any fine.
Bolton council said enforcement officers were `monitoring' the situation at The Swan.
In Manchester an army of 100 enforcement officers employed by the city council will take to the streets later this week.
What do you think of the smoking ban? Have your say.
Tweet
Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
moodyblu, Heald Green (02/07/2007 at 14:15)
The Town Hall buffoons make me sick.
Charlotte (02/07/2007 at 14:26)
Edski Vega, Nottingham (02/07/2007 at 14:32)
Pete (02/07/2007 at 14:42)
Princess_Pam, Crumpsall (02/07/2007 at 14:57)
They removed democracy from their own members to make policy - now they want to remove freedom of expression from everybody else.
moodyblu, Heald Green (02/07/2007 at 15:02)
BTW - I hope your favourite pubs shut down because of the ban.
Pravda (02/07/2007 at 15:08)
The_umpire, Salford, Lancashire (02/07/2007 at 15:21)
Sort out Manchester first Councillor before you interfere elsewhere.
Geoff,Bury, Radcliffe (02/07/2007 at 15:33)
They are sticking two fingers up at the law.
PW, Manchester (02/07/2007 at 15:45)
Kids at school are being put under pressure to complain to their parents about smoking at home. How long will it be before they can report them?. I am of the opinion that smoking is harmful, but where will all this take us as a society? Germany in the 1930's and 1940's. In the meantime, real criminals get away with everything, as the force of the law is so busy coming down on people who smoke a cigarette?
Charlotte (02/07/2007 at 16:18)
Caz, Fallowfield, Fallowfield (02/07/2007 at 16:34)
There's no use having a law if certain people are allowed to flout it!
didarunna2spain, Tarragona Spain. (02/07/2007 at 17:22)
1)Bars/restaurants state on yhe outside door whether they allow smoking or not.This gives a free choice to both customers and prospective staff whether to use the place or not.
2)Many smoking establishments do not allow children to enter.
3)In general,tobacco is sold only at licensed shops which are few and far between,not
at supermarkets or garages,for example.
4)In most small towns and villages, any ban is ignored and even in the cities,the police can't be bothered!
5)It is considered a nuisance but people generally behave like good Europeans and ignore all diktats from Brussels.
6)Britain,you are sleepwalking into complete state control. Do something about it before it's too late!
Backing this landlord will do for starters. And I don't smoke!!
ALFIE (02/07/2007 at 18:14)
Easy as that,the laws the law.
Id bang cigs up by £2 pound a pack+introduce massive fines for people selling duty free.
Pubs will never be closed as all smokers who go to pubs know that a pint goes nicely with a cig.
In your wildest dreams will they close down pubs when they can just nip out the back for a puff.
dave evans (02/07/2007 at 23:24)
gato (03/07/2007 at 00:34)
Colin W, Abroad (03/07/2007 at 07:08)
Guten Tag (03/07/2007 at 09:35)
Katrina, Manchester, Manchester (03/07/2007 at 11:11)
Besides, you smokers are just one hell of a strain on the NHS!! Stay in and smoke at home
moodyblu, Heald Green (03/07/2007 at 11:37)
Being gay used to be illegal, caused illness and considered a filthy habit by most but then they started having their own pubs and clubs and now look at us.
Perhaps, in a more liberated future, smokers will be understood, accepted and valued for what we are - major contributors to the excise revenue!
traffordtroublemaker (03/07/2007 at 12:14)
However, the argument they are using that it is against their human rights is a load of rubbish. They took away the rights of non-smokers the instant they light up. Its not as if smoke stays in a little bubble around them - it does affect others.
I think this guy took it too far - he should at least get fined and a caution.
This ban is the best thing to happen, I just wish it had happened years ago. But its not going to work if people are allowed to get away with it.
PW, Manchester (03/07/2007 at 12:40)
Please don't tell me you don't wish to breathe their 2nd hand smoke, because I'm not for a minute suggesting you go in there! It should be a smokers' pub. Smokers know the risks, and they've had ample warnings. As non-smokers, I certainly agree we shouldn't be forced to breathe in their fumes, but stop trying to tell people how to live their lives.
moodyblu, Heald Green (03/07/2007 at 12:59)
I understand the cost to the NHS argument but I don't mind people stuffing their faces with burgers and having a by-pass, or people drinking themselves into oblivion and having a liver transplant or getting seven bells kicked out of them at the sunday morning soccer match and having orthopaedic care so why shouldn't I be allowed to smoke if it isn't harming anyone else?
James W Wallace (03/07/2007 at 13:03)
ace, manchester (03/07/2007 at 13:22)
When will people get it in their thick heads "We dont live in a free country" we never have lived in a free country? weve always been a state controlled country.