A PUB landlord who became the first in Greater Manchester to be convicted of defying the new public smoking ban last year deliberately set out to flout the law, a court heard.

Nick Hogan, former landlord of The Swan Hotel and Barristers Bar in Bolton, was found guilty in January of failing to prevent people from smoking on his licensed premises on four separate occasions last July.

He is appealing against conviction and sentence on three of the charges, on the grounds that he had not been aware, and could not have been reasonably expected to be aware, that individuals had been smoking in his pub.

Judgment in the case, which was heard at Bolton Crown Court, has been adjourned to a date yet to be fixed.

If the appeal is allowed, it could well have major legal and political implications, affecting thousands of other licensees.

Mr Hogan told the hearing he had not agreed with the anti-smoking legislation and believed it to be unjust.

He told the court that his stance had been to tell staff to explain the new legal position to customers, but said that if anyone lit up in his pub, they would not be thrown out.

Mr David Travers, prosecuting, said Mr Hogan had made his position clear when he hosted a protest meeting against the new law on the day it came into force last summer.

Mr Travers said it was `breathtaking' for Mr Hogan to claim he had not known people were smoking, when he had abandoned any responsibility placed on him under the law.




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