Down in the Garden of England, something stirs

A pub landlord in Kent has banned smoking in his pub garden. According to John Garrod:

“You only need one person to be smoking a cigarette and their smoke is wafting over several other people, which makes it slightly less pleasant than it would otherwise be. So, the obvious action to take is to stop smoking within the garden, for the comfort of the majority.”

Even before the indoor smoking ban was introduced in 2007 I argued that publicans were perfectly entitled to ban smoking on their property if they wished, so I’m not going to change my position now.

If Garrod thinks it’s in the best interests of his business, good luck to him. The real pity is that publicans are no longer allowed to choose whether or not customers can smoke inside their pub, and I suspect it won't be long (whatever the Government currently says) before another attempt is made to prohibit smoking outside most hospitality venues as well.

Isolated initiatives like this may seem insignificant but they generate media coverage and before long anti-smoking activists and politicians are jumping on the bandwagon.

Anyway, it reminds me of what happened before smoking was banned inside every pub in the country.

Several years before the ban was introduced a handful of pubs (including The Free Press in Cambridge, which I remember visiting) went 'no smoking' through choice rather than coercion. That was their prerogative and I certainly didn't object.

As far as I was concerned it was absolutely fine because a pub was a private business and it was up to the landlord, not government or anti-smoking campaigners, to decide on the smoking policy.

Also, what was wrong with having smoking and no-smoking pubs? Let the market decide.

Then, in January 2005, it was announced that Weatherspoon was going to ban smoking in every one of its 650 pubs by May 2006. This was over a year before MPs voted in favour of a workplace smoking ban (with no exemptions) and the company's decision must have had some impact on how they voted.

What happened however is that Wetherspoon banned smoking in just 40 of Tim Martin's 650 pubs and it was such a 'success' that the company quietly reversed the policy a year later, preferring to wait until the Government's smoking ban was introduced nationwide in July 2007, thereby creating a level playing field.

I see a very similar thing happening again, with a relatively small number of publicans choosing to ban smoking in beer gardens, with politicians subsequently taking the matter into their own hands and passing a law that denies publicans any choice.

Anyway, what began as a local story on Friday developed legs over the weekend and appeared in the online editions of several national newspapers.

Shortly after breakfast yesterday I was asked to record a quick interview for South East Today (BBC1), which was duly edited into a (very) short soundbite, and this morning I was on BBC Radio Kent.

And by complete coincidence, I just happened to be in Kent on Sunday and Monday.

On Sunday we drove to Sissinghurst Castle Farmhouse where we met friends and were taken (by taxi) to Chapel Down Winery near Tenterden.

After lunch in the on-site restaurant we were given a tour of the vineyard, followed by a (generous) tasting session.

(I should add that my wife and I love Chapel Down sparkling wines, our current favourite being the Chapel Down Grand Reserve 2019, closely followed by the award-winning Chapel Down Rosé.)

We then returned to Sissinghurst Castle Farmhouse where we stayed the night.

Monday began with a delicious ‘full English’ before we checked out and went for a stroll through Sissinghurst Castle Garden which is right next to the farmhouse.

Designed by English novelist and poet Vita Sackville-West (1882-1962) - who lived there with her husband, politician and diplomat Sir Harold Nicolson (1886-1968) - the gardens are considered to be among the finest in the country.

I'm not sure that April is the best or most colourful month to enjoy the garden, but the blossom was nice and it wasn't crowded, as I'm sure it must be in summer.

Now owned by the National Trust, Sissinghurst Castle Garden was nevertheless worth the visit. Combined with a tour of Chapel Down Winery, what's not to like?

Below: Sissinghurst Castle Garden and Chapel Down Winery

Comments

[Pat Nurse]

If law demands that landlords cannot be inclusive and hospitable to allow smokers inside then why should landlords be allowed to exclude smokers outside who are doing no harm to anyone else except for an extremely intolerant few?

Some people like the smell of smoke. Some hate other people's perfumes contaminating their food - or the sickly stench of vapes not tempered by the fresh smell of smoke. Since when did the law decide what smells the public should like or dislike?

I agree it should be a choice but choice is no longer legal in this country. Fashion matters but ethics and right and wrong not so much. People can be as vile as they like as long as they target the minority which had "Kick Me" pinned to its back by law in 2007.

Personally I think this landlord is a snob or so desperate for business he has decided the best way to gain free advertising is to kick a smoker. Showing hatred for smokers has worked before in getting miles of free coverage nationally.