Five councils ban outdoor smoking at pubs, cafes and restaurants

Northumberland, Durham, North Tyneside, Newcastle and Manchester have banned smoking on pavement tables at bars, restaurants and cafes
PA Wire

Five councils have banned smoking on pavements outside pubs, cafes and restaurants.

Northumberland, Durham, North Tyneside, Newcastle and Manchester have all banned smoking at venues where outside seating is available, and others are considering following suit.

Meanwhile, all licences granted by Gateshead stipulate that outside areas must be smoke-free.

Oxfordshire is also considering the move as part of plans to become the first smoke-free county by 2025.

The plans will see employers encouraged to promote smoke-free environments and support staff to quit smoking.

An Oxfordshire County Council spokeswoman said: “Oxfordshire has set itself an ambitious aim to be smoke-free by 2025. Creating healthy, smoke-free environments – including considering proposals for hospitality outdoor seating to be 100 per cent smoke-free – is just one small part of a wider range of county-wide plans.

“At present there are no timeframes for smoke-free pavement licensing proposals and nothing has yet been agreed. Any decision on this would be ultimately the responsibility of our individual district councils in Oxfordshire.

“Our tobacco control strategy further outlines our smoke-free 2025 plans, which includes creating healthy and family-friendly smoke-free spaces, helping people stop smoking in the first place, and supporting those who wish to quit.”

The Government wants England to be smoke-free - meaning only 5 per cent of the population smokes - by 2030.

Smokers’ rights lobbying groups have hit back at councils’ banning outside smoking.

Simon Clark, director of Forest (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco), said: “It’s no business of local councils if adults choose to smoke, and if they smoke outside during working hours that’s a matter for them and their employer not the council.

“Nor should it be the role of councillors to force smokers to quit by extending the indoor smoking ban to any outdoor area where there is no risk to non-smokers.

“The public will want local authorities to help local businesses bounce back from the impact of the pandemic. They will also be expected to focus on issues like employment and housing.

“Reducing smoking rates to meet some idealistic target is not a priority for most people and council policy should reflect that.”

Director of campaign group We Vape, Mark Oates, said: “It now seems fashionable again to attack smokers instead of helping them, which is all these five councils are doing.

“They don’t care about the individual smoker’s health, they care about looking good. Smokers need to be educated in the alternatives, not treated like exiles.”

However Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Ash (Action on Smoking and Health), said most customers supported the idea of a pavement ban.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in