A hospitality leader and councillors have warned against Cumbria following the lead of other parts of the UK by banning smoking in pavement dining areas outside pubs, bars and restaurants.

North Tyneside, Durham, Newcastle, Northumberland and Manchester City councils have all introduced smoke-free pavement drinking and dining rules in the past year, according to their licensing conditions.

But Dianne Irving, who owns three pubs in the region, including The Howard Arms, The Milbourne Arms and The Crown Inn, at Stanwix, felt that the introduction of restrictions would pose problems for her venues.

She said: “We try to manage the situation for smokers as well as we can with dedicated smoking zones.

“We put them out at the front of the pub, for example, where smokers can have a dedicated place so it’s not affecting people and they also have somewhere to go.

“For me, to ban it completely, that would just be another thing on top of everything in hospitality at the moment that we could do without.”

“It could be something that we look at long term as smoking becomes less popular but, currently, I still feel places are struggling with things such as people standing inside and so if another ruling such as this was to come in, that would be another blow really.

“People are already not coming because of the difficulty of having to book and move about between places and so people who smoke not feeling they are comfortable would just be another hurdle for people.

“It’s something we could do without; the timing of it would be a bit poor given that we are trying to get back on our own feet.”

Mayor and Councillor Pam Birks agreed and warned against ostracising smokers, particularly after a year of such hardship for many.

She said: “I wouldn’t like to see a large section of the community ostracised.

“I feel we should look at a ‘hybrid’ solution. There should be places where smokers can go and where they can’t go, to give everyone a choice.

“We have to remember that not having places to go to meet friends can impact on people’s mental health.”

Councillor Stephen Higgs added: “I would simply say that I would not like us to do anything that would make things more difficult for small businesses to get back on their feet as we reopen.

“Of course, like many people, I would prefer to eat somewhere where people are not smoking but I think for the staff themselves having to manage the situation, I wouldn’t want them to have another thing to police.

“Businesses have had so much to put up with during the pandemic – they don’t need anything else!”