Howitt has premises licence revoked

I used to enjoy going to Blackpool, but like many others, I wont be going there again.

I can't believe Blackpool Council state "lack of membership to Pubwatch" as a reason for revoking his licence. Hamish Howitt was the CHAIRMAN of his local Pubwatch until August, when Blackpool Council together Blackpool's police chief threatened to withdraw all support from Pubwatch unless they ousted him. He's been stitched up by these disgraceful, cheating scoundrels of officialdom.

The smoking ban is not the real issue -however maybe if councils accross the country shut down and stopped Supermarkets from selling Alcohol as loss leaders this would help the trade. Non Smokers tend to be health freaks who don't drink anyway- if the local is to be around in 5 years then the Supermarkets must be better controlled in the sale of Alcohol. Who does 24 hour opening benefit the most??? Show me a standard pub that opens 24 hrs.

It is a pity we do not have more publicans who are willing to fight for their livlihoods,and fight this draconian ban, which has no justification on health grounds, as there is no proof that SHS harms anyone we have estimates, but there are no epidemilogical studies which show SHS to be dangerous, as the Health and Safety Executive state they can not produce evidence, they are the experts. Good look to Hamish for fighting for truth and for trying to bring all these lies out in to the open.

I have heard that MPs agreed not to smoke in the House of commons, but I have also heard that MPs have been seen smoking in the toilets. Do smoking inspectors go around the House checking on MPs? I doubt it.

I've never met Hamish but believe that Gill Paton is wrong to call him an idiot, it seems to me that he is a very shrewd 'cookie' indeed and that his bar being called 'Del Boys' is very apt! As I said in an earlier comment and as has been mentioned below Hamish's pub must have been benefitting massivly over the last few months from all the free publicity and allowing people to smoke and he must have been 'laughing all the way to the bank' whilst the very people whose customers he has been 'poaching' have been suggesting 'whip rounds' to pay his fines! You just couldn't make it up Given that his premises are apparently on the market anyway what odds that this fact is used during the appeal to get the ruling over turned? Hamish and Idiot? Genius more like it! With regards to the Houses of Parliament, the reason that they are exempt is as I understand (possibly wrongly) because they are Crown Property; but it is true that as stated M.P.'s have indeed imposed their own voluntary 'ban' Tom Balls, Saltburn

. what is our country coming to when texters can take delight in some one losing his right to defend the freedoms he and his customers have enjoyed for centuries. shame on the lot of you, but spouting spite and bile on others only reflects the type of person you may have become,whats wrong with giving others a free choice of the life style they wish because you have not the savvy to avoid places you are not comfortable in

jan Has it passed you by that there is no smoking inside the house of commons and the house of lords. Both of them voted to adopt the same ban as the rest of us face, and they have to go outside to smoke, just like the rest of us. They very rarely do things that aren't hypocritical, so let's not incorrectly criticise them when they do the noble thing!

I think the government have gone out to close pubs down and if they carry on like this they will do it. Its one less problem to them and the police. But lets continue to let the supermarkets and off licences flout the laws that pub landlords have to bow to!!!!!

He got what he was after massive publicity for the latter part of Blackpool's season. This has increased his sales in a bar that was doing nothing and going no where and so kept him going a litle longer than he could of trading within the law. Do not just take his premise licence take his personal as well and ban him from ever running a pub again and let the good people get on with doing the job right.

i disagree with the ban, and think that any establishment that wishes to allow smoking should carry on. non smokers are now free to chose where they socialise as are employees concerned about the ingestion of potentialy deadly fumes ,free to chose where they work. i am a little concerned that our 'super nanny govrnment' might take note of the well documented evidence that alchohol contributes to domestic violence, loutish behavior and a host of physical and mental problems and ban alchohol completly ( and then the coffee bars will be next). i am sure that most government decisions are made over a subsidised Scotch and cigar in the house of commons bar.

it is nice to see that you now have to be on pubwatch to keep your licence what ever next pub nanny a new scheme to keep drinkers at home nad close thousands of pubs lets get back to basics hammer the supermarkets for cheap booze and get pubs back to normal opening hours so publicans can have some sort of life

Hamish needs to learn a lesson from King Canute. The tide has changed, and you have to comply or drown.

Hate to say it, but I warned you back in June that no matter how much people disagreed with the smoking ban (and I still do), someone would be made an example for defying it, just as happened here in Ireland. Crucified, I think, was the word I used. How dare we allow anyone use a legally sold tax income substance, introduced to these Islands by a Knight of the Realm! Should we not be pursued with the full vigor of the law and be held accountable for the havoc we have wreaked on society for so doing? The number of pub closures in Ireland after the introduction of the ban was approx 20%. However this figure is now expected to have risen to well over 30%. This will be confirmed when the latest Pub license renewal figures are released from the Revenue shortly. I, along with a group of Publicans, tried to fight the ban. We argued that the social and economic consequences of such a ban had not been thought out. Among the points we argued were that smokers would abandon pubs, opting to drink at home, making many pubs uneconomically viable and exposing children to SHS and alcohol in the home. We were dismissed and told that not only would this not happen, but the non-smokers would flock to our pubs. Where are they? Where are our smoking customers gone? Why have thousands of pubs closed up? Why has the take-home drinks trade more than tripled in the last 3 yrs? Why is alcohol abuse among children and teenagers at crisis level? How would we know? After all we are just mere Publicans!

I have just spoken to Hamish and he has a downstairs and upstairs bar( one he allows smoking in the other he doesn't) .he has a separate license for each bar and the alleged offences referred to the non-smoking bar. Blackpool Council have revoked his license on the Smoking bar. Is this not clear victimisation. Are they mad, bad or totally incompetent, maybe all three. Time will tell, but in the meantime well done Hamish and keep fighting.

The man is an idiot

Well if MPs can smoke in pubs and public places then we all should be able to IT SHOULD NOT BE FISH OF ONE AND FOUL OF ANOTHER How can they say that is fair?????????? They cant as it is the public YOUR EVERY DAY WORKER THAT PAYS YET HAS TO GO OUT SIDE TO HAVE A SMOKE NO WAY CAN THAT BE JUSTIFIED IN ANY WAY STOP MP's SMOKING IN ALL PUBLIC PLACES AS THEY HAVE DONE US EVERY DAY PEOPLE NOT ONE RULE FOR ONE AND ANOTHER RULE FOR ANOTHER ITS CALLED BEING FAIR TO ALL IF IT IS MENT TO BE ALL PUBLIC THEN IT SHOULD MEAN ALL PUBLIC PLACES NOT ALL APART FROM WHERE MPs GO TO DRINK OR EAT OR INDEED HAVE A CONFRENCE LETS MAKE THINGS FAIR AND NOT FISH OF ONE FOULE OF ANOTHER AFTER ALL WE PAY TAX THAT PAYS THERE WAGE BUT THEY GET TO SMOKE ANYWHERE WE CANT PRAY TELL IS THAT AT ALL FAIR?

go for it Hamish, if you,ve got the money and energy to fight them. Are they just after you because of the smoking i wonder ? Also, i truly support pubwatch, but it is not a legal requirement, just good practice

I hope they throw the book at him now and he loses everything deserves all he gets gives all in the trade a bad name

This had a certain inevitability about it. Whilst there was token support for his stance against the ban there were very few people who would have jeopardised their investment in their business by risking their licence on what was always going to be an open and shut case.

We Now Are In A Police State The Word Democracy Should Be Removed From The English Dictionary And Replaced With The Word DICTATORSHIP But History Must Show One Stood Against Many Thats What's Inportant Good Luck Hamish

I don' t really think this guy was fighting a battle he could ever win, but all the same, if criminals were treated as coldly and as harshly as this, with such extreme measures, then we really would live in a wonderful world! what makes me laugh is the charges; re; "prevention of crime and disorder; protection of children from harm, and protection of public safety." - I would imagine that every council in Britain could be sewed for Negligence under these rulings! typical of Magistrates to Bash a Publican, it's all magistrates ever do, they are the scum of our society!