Save our Pubs

PUBS around the country are at increasing risk of closure because of the smoking ban, warns the UK Independence Party.Paul Nuttall, UKIP chairman, said the ban on drinks promotions is an additional blow but the smoking ban is the major contributor to the closures.

He said nationally pubs are closing at the rate of 36 a week.Mr Nuttall, who is also the lead North West candidate in the Euro-elections, said: “Instead of trying to help the industry the government seems intent on its demise.

“Meanwhile drunkenness and alcohol-related violence, particularly among the young, is continuing to spiral.”He said people are buying booze at lower prices from supermarkets and off-licences, encouraging more people to drink.Mr Nuttall said: “Youngsters get tanked up on cheap shop-bought drink before they even go out for the night and then spend little in the pubs and clubs as they have already consumed much.”

Describing pubs as an “easy target” he said licensees should have a right to choose whether they have a ventilated area within their premises.He said: “This would be a properly ventilated room so that non-smokers elsewhere in the building would be unaffected. It is not uncommon to see pensioners shivering outside premises, including bingo halls, while they have a smoke. Is this any way to treat them?

“Some people argue that it is unfair that bar staff have to work in smoky conditions – but what about the staff who have lost their jobs because of the smoking ban?”

UKIP has now launched a Save the British Pub campaign in a fight to save pubs from closure.