Smokers face clampdown over taking drinks outside
SMOKERS are to be warned against taking their drinks outside when they step out of the pub for a cigarette.
Council chiefs in East Lothian are to write to every pub, club and hotel in the region to clamp down on people causing a nuisance by drinking and smoking on pavements outside bars.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the local authority's licensing board and comes after a string of complaints about noisy smokers congregating outside pubs and clubs in the wake of Scotland's smoking ban.
Currently in East Lothian, it is an offence for anyone to drink alcohol on the streets as the region is covered by a by-law forbidding drinking alcohol in public places. Only pubs or clubs with a special licence for pavement tables are allowed dispensation from the ban.
But in recent months, there have been complaints from residents about groups of people gathering on pavements outside pubs to drink and smoke - prompting the council's letter campaign.
Other Lothians councils have experienced the same situation as East Lothian with smokers taking drinks outside. Both West Lothian and Midlothian enforce blanket bans on public drinking.
Edinburgh is the only local authority in the Lothians not to enforce a ban on public drinking. Councillors and police in the Capital have always opposed an outright ban because of the impact it is likely to have on people drinking during sporting events or having picnics in the city's green spaces.
Musselburgh councillor John Ross, who told the licensing board that the current situation in East Lothian was "unacceptable", said: "There have been a few instances where we've had problems with people drinking outside bars when they've gone out for a cigarette. Two or three places in Musselburgh are especially bad for smokers congregating with drinks, although the majority of licensed premises in the area are much better.
"On Friday and Saturday nights in particular, it can cause a lot of problems when you have a big group of people on the pavement with glasses and bottles."
He added: "We're just hoping to work with licensees and to get them to realise that it's their responsibility to help to enforce this. Although it's a police matter when people are caught drinking illegally on the streets, it's the licensee's responsibility to help ensure that their customers don't leave the pub with their drink in the first place - even if it is only to go for a smoke.
"If they want to have people drinking on the pavement they can apply for a special licence from the council."
Councillor Graham Marr, chairman of Midlothian's licensing board, said: "It is illegal under Midlothian Council's bylaws to stand and drink on the street and this is enforced by the police.
"Many licensed premises now have designated beer gardens and shelters for customers who require to smoke and they can take their drink to these specified areas."
Elsewhere in Scotland, cities such as Glasgow have used bylaws to prevent drinking on the streets, which have prevented smokers from taking their drinks outside since the national smoking ban came into effect in March.
