‘Smoking ban rebel’ closes pub for good

According to reports, the Blackpool bar run by ‘rebel landlord’ Hamish Howitt has finally closed for good after 27 years.

Older readers will remember Hamish.

Following the smoking ban in 2007 he ‘was fined £500 and ordered to pay £2,000 prosecution costs … after he admitted flouting the smoking ban in public places in England’.

According to Reuters, ‘Howitt has set up a political party called Fight Against Government Suppression (FAGS) to fight the ban and says he is prepared to go to jail’.

Thankfully it didn’t come to that but I believe he did have his licence revoked, albeit briefly.

Determined to fight the ban, he also stood in two by-elections, including the Haltemprice and Howden by-election precipitated by David Davies in protest at the Labour’s government's plan to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days.

Standing on behalf of the ‘Freedom Party’, Hamish attracted just 91 votes and lost his deposit, but he wasn’t alone - another 21 candidates lost their deposit too in a by-election described (rightly) as a ‘stunt’ by Labour PM Gordon Brown.

I first met Hamish in October 2007 when we invited him to speak at a drinks party at the Conservative conference in Blackpool, an event I listed at #8 in Forest’s top ten conference events.

The following year he spoke at another Forest event, this time in London, when another guest speaker was the then Ukip leader Nigel Farage.

I was impressed by Hamish’s sincerity and courage but, as I wrote here, I was concerned he was being encouraged to fight (legal) battles he had no chance of winning, to the detriment of his business.

Anyway, the ‘rebel landlord’ label stuck and every so often I’ve read articles or seen archive pieces reminding readers of his battles with the local authority.

And, true to form, Hamish hasn’t gone quietly, blaming the closure of his pub on Blackpool Council.

Full story: ‘Blackpool pub 'Crazy Scots Bar' in Rigby Road closes after 27 years’, and ‘Crazy Scots Bar closure 'not our fault' says Blackpool Council’.

See also: ‘The Blackpool landlord who fought the 2007 smoking ban and nearly lost everything’, and ‘17 memorable photos of Blackpool pub Crazy Scots Bar as it closes after 27 years’.

Below (left to right): me, Roger Helmer MEP, ‘rebel landlord’ Hamish Howitt, and former MSP Brian Monteith in Blackpool, October 2007