Nailsea pub landlord fuming over smoking shelter ban

Nailsea pub landlord may have to pull down a smoking shelter he put up outside his inn as councillors said it "adversely affected the character of the area".

Mick Davidson, who has run the Blue Flame pub at Netherton Wood Lane, West End, Nailsea, for 21 years, put up the pergola style shelter at the front of the pub a couple of months ago after customers complained that they had nowhere dry to enjoy a cigarette.

Mick had previously put up gazebos at the front of the pub for smokers, but was forced to take them down after they blew over in high winds.

He then decided to create the wooden shelter, which has a metal and felt roof and is concreted into the ground, in front of the main bar where his smokers gather for a puff outside the pub.

But the future of the shelter – and whether it can stay put – is in the balance after complaints from local residents.

North Somerset Council officers visited the pub, which dates back to the 1800s, and said Mick needed to apply for retrospective planning permission.

The popular landlord appointed an architect and submitted the application to North Somerset planners. But when the application went before Nailsea Town Council this week, members recommended it be rejected because the shelter "would adversely affect the character of the building and the vicinity".

The application will now be considered by North Somerset Council and if planners refuse permission, it is possible the shelter may have to come down.

Mick said: "When I first put it up, I didn't think I needed planning permission, and it's now been there a couple of months.

"But then someone complained so I had to have drawings done and submit a retrospective planning application.

"Just about everyone that uses the pub smokes and does so at the front of the building, so that's why the shelter was put there.

"I really cannot see what the problem is because other pubs in the area have applied for permission to put up smoking shelters and got it without a problem.

"My trade has gone down by half since the introduction of the smoking ban and I am running the pub earning less than the minimum wage.

"I put up the smoking shelter for the benefit of the customers.

"It's cost me nearly £1,000 to put up the shelter and apply for the relevant permission and I think the whole situation is ridiculous."

Pubs across the South West have put up smoking shelters for their customers following the introduction of the ban in July 2007, prohibiting smoking in public places.

North Somerset Council will consider the application in the coming weeks.