Defiant landlord faces £17,500 fine for flouting smoking ban

A pub landlord is the first person to be taken to court for flouting the new ban on smoking in public places.

Hamish Howitt, a Scot who runs a bar in Blackpool, claims the ban breaches smokers' human rights.

He has even set up a political party - Fight Against Government Suppression, or FAGS.

After council officers repeatedly caught customers smoking at his Happy Scots Bar, Howitt was served with seven separate summonses to appear in court.

Owners and managers of pubs, clubs and cafes face fines of up to £2,500 if they fail to enforce the ban, so Howitt could face a total bill of up to £17,500 if he is convicted.

He said he would go to jail rather than pay any penalty, and vowed to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

"I'm not pro- smoking, just pro-freedom," he said. "Having a pint and a cigarette in a pub is one of the last great enjoyments left for the working classes.

"I'm not prepared to shove my customers outside in the wind and the rain to allow them their right to smoke.

"I believe this ban is tantamount to a hate crime. I won't pay the fine and will go to prison if necessary to make a point while I take this to the Court of Human Rights."

Howitt, who chairs the Lancashire resort's anti-disorder Pubwatch scheme, said serious law-breakers were given a slap on the wrist by comparison.

"The same court that is charging me lets off criminals with cautions for offences relating to drugs like heroin, crack cocaine and ecstasy," he said. "It's an utter disgrace."

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Five of his drinkers are thought to have been served with £50 fixed penalty notices for lighting up since the ban came into force at the beginning of this month, and Howitt says he has paid three of the penalties.

Blackpool council said it had been approaching the enforcement of the ban throughout the resort in a "non-confrontational way" and had verbally informed Howitt he faced prosecution before the summonses were issued.

He is due to appear before Blackpool magistrates next month.

Other pub landlords have gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid the smoking ban.

Bob Beech, who runs the Wellington Arms in Southampton, tried to have his pub classified as "foreign soil" by making it the embassy for the tiny uninhabited Caribbean island of Redonda.

But the Foreign Office ruled that Redonda was a territory of Antigua and Barbuda and not entitled to an embassy.

A pub called the Peruvian Arms, in Penzance, Cornwall, tried a similar trick by appealing to the Peruvian ambassador to help it obtain "consulate status" in an attempt to avoid the ban, but this also proved unsuccessful.