Smoking in Pub Gardens.

There is no way this could be policed.

I think pub landlords have taken enough of a bashing to their livelihood with the smoking ban and unrestricted licensing hours. Staffing costs have gone through the roof with the latter and to cope with the downturn in business linked to the smoking ban they all now have to try to double as restaurants/gastropubs as well. No wonder pubs are closing at an alarming rate year on year. If you choose to live near a pub you have to be prepared for the consequences - if only for a few summer nights of the year. And as for banning smoking out of doors - yes, smoking related diseases can kill, but so can alcohol related diseases. And not many fatal accidents are caused by tobacco overindulgence just as not many fights or instances of domestic violence are occasioned by too many cigarettes. Demonsing tobacco and ignoring the evils of alcohol abuse is hypocritical.

We had a wonderful house, with a large rear garden, next to a pub. For 28 years we lived there with no problem whatsoever. And then the smoking ban arrived and the pub put a smoking area in the bit of land between us and the pub- and our lives turned to misery overnight. People hang around in that area and were very noisy, and often stayed there long after opening hours. Our bedroom window was next to that area, and the smell and noise became unbearable. It cost us a huge loss on the sale of the house too.

It all depends which way the wind's blowing...

It must be bad if you have really close neighbouring gardens.

Sorry, vegas!

Oh yes Ana - I hate the smell of burning flesh, but also of cigarettes. However, as vegs says, live and let live. To an extent anyway.

Actually, it's very rare to see (or smell) a person smoking in the pub gardens round 'ere.

Posh we are.

As smoking is not illegal (and if it was banned where would the 12 billion in VAT and excise duty come from each year) I have no problem with people smoking in pub gardens or any other area where it is not banned. I don't smoke myself but don't see it as a big deal when others do. Of course, I would hope that smokers would be a bit considerate, just as I would hope that the parents who bring children into pub gardens would supervise them properly and not allow them to behave as if in a playground. It's about live and let live.

I am a lifelong non-smoker. However, in common with the majority of my generation, I was brought up by smoking parents. It was the norm at that time and the dangers did not begin to be understood until the 1960s. One of my sisters (ironically a doctor) smoked until she became pregnant. None of the three of us has any obvious damage from exposure to smoke in our early years and the youngest of us is 68. I am not arguing for a return to smoking, but for less fanaticism about exposure to smoke. I don't like the smell of cigarette smoke drifting out of the local pub's garden, but I don't expect it to do me permanent damage. Smoke in the workplace is a very different matter and it's good that this danger was noted following a court case in the early '90s.

What about BBQ smoke? That smells awful....
Surely the amount of smoke from one cigarette that drifts across from a neighbour's garden couldn't do much harm?

It's unfair when cigarette smoke drifts into a neighbour's garden. It is carcinogenic.

Who will pay the jobs worth to come knocking on my neighbours door to tell him he can't smoke in his house/garden.
English man's home is his castle an all that.

Sorry Frank ridiculous idea.

I agree with you Frank.

Jolly good job you do not live in France FRank, they smoke EVERYWHERE there

Pubs are closing every five minutes it seems. If they have gardens or outdoor areas that allow smoking....it can only be good for business. It will take time to eradicate smoking unless its banned. Don't blame folk, its culture that needs addressing.

Frank, How would you enforce it? If I was relaxing with a cigarette while sending this post, either in the garden or in the house how would you know?

Too draconian Frank. Live and let live.

They'd have to supply them with breathing equipment. Or only employ hardened smokers...

sunseeker

They would have to put these smoking establishments well away from the main areas so there is no danger of anybody passing these establishments getting smoke in their lungs.
Also what about the poor bar staff?.

Frank

Basically you are saying the smoking should be banned everywhere!

I don't smoke, and hate having to walk through someone elses smoke when I walk into a building but rather than ban it everywhere I would like to see landlords and restaurants being able to choose whether to be a smoking establishment or not, then those of us who don't smoke can choose whether to use that establishment.

That's just being a killjoy Frank.