A pub landlord has been planning an ingenious way of avoiding the smoking ban. Bob Beech wants to make The Wellington Arms pub in Freemantle, Southampton, into an embassy for the tiny Atlantic island of Redonda. If his plan works the premises will not be liable to the new smoking laws.
The pub is already a consulate of Redonda whilst the island’s ruler King Robert the Bald Mr Beech recently bestowed a Redondan knighthood on Mr Beech. But Sir Bob says legal difficulties in presenting the case may scupper his plans:
“It’s not looking good. Solicitors aren’t keen to take on the Government in this way – it’s too risky. The legalities of it are so complex anyway that we would probably end up in court for decades. But by no means is it a dead duck. We’ll keep trying but the outlook isn’t good.”
Mr Beech is a non-smoker but says taking away his customer’s rights to smoke will be highly damaging to his business:
No matter how much the Government tries to convince us about the success of bans elsewhere, pubs have suffered and will continue to suffer as a result. The selective statistics we’ve been shown ignore the smaller pubs like mine that will really feel the impact.”
But a Foreign Office spokesman said that Redonda was a territory of Antigua and Barbuda and therefore was not entitled to an embassy on British soil.
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