AFTER reports Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer’s could extend the smoking ban to outside areas, we spoke to patrons and pub owners in Oswestry for their views.

And the responses have overwhelmingly said that any move to ban smoking from beer gardens will have a huge impact on the town's pubs.

Duncan Borrowman, landlord of the award-winning Bailey Head pub, on the Bailey Head, was my first port of call.

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He believes there will be an impact but not as much as people will fear, adding that he thinks any potential extension of the ban will be hard to police.

He said: “I think it will have an impact but I don’t think it’s going to be that massive.

“Some people will still smoke but out on the street, and that is what will make it incredibly hard to police.

“The people who smoke here at our pub go out to the front and do it, though we have got a smoking area by the bins, if they’re in our seating area then they can just step onto the Bailey Head.”

Katie Eastgate outside the Bailey Head pub in Oswestry.Katie Eastgate outside the Bailey Head pub in Oswestry. (Image: Newsquest.)

Katie Eastgate had just lit up outside the pub as she enjoyed a half of lager in the sunshine, and she added her voice to the dissent over how it will hurt pubs.

“I’m currently outside smoking and if they extend this then it’s going to be terrible for the pub,” she said.

“It’s going to be quite hard to police – it’s a bit unfair and feels like an attack on smokers.

“I can understand why the original ban was brought in but this will hurt the pub.”

Chris Hassall is a smoker who drinks at the pub and he said it will have a huge impact on the town's bars.

He said: “It’s going to have a real impact.

“People who smoke have already been forced outside and anymore it's going to annoy them.

“And if it is enforced, who is going to police it – what constitutes ‘outside’ anyway?”

Another Oswestry pub with a prominent beer garden is the Boars Head in Willow Street.

Smoking at the Boars Head pub beer garden in Oswestry could be a thing of the past. Smoking at the Boars Head pub beer garden in Oswestry could be a thing of the past. (Image: Newsquest.)

Landlady Sophie Morris was another to fear how pubs would cope with an extended smoking ban.

“I think it will have a big impact on us,” she said.

“We have a dedicated smoking area but if it’s extended, they will just go outside on the street.

“How can they ban in a beer garden but not out on a street?”

Customer Lisa Evans was adamant she would oppose any such move and even called for the smoking ban inside to be reversed.

She said there was a social element created by the smoking area.

She said: “We’re not having an outdoor smoking ban.

“If they’re banning it out there then bring it back in here, inside the pub.

“Since smokers were forced outside, they have developed a community because out there, they talk to each other but wouldn’t inside the pub."

Lisa Evans at the Boars Head pub in Oswestry. Lisa Evans at the Boars Head pub in Oswestry. (Image: Newsquest.)

My last port of call was The Fox, in Church Street, and while beer garden patrons were unwilling to chat, someone inside the pub, who did not want to be identified, stuck up for the plan.

She said: “I’m behind it.

“I hate having to walk through smoke and I don’t think it’s fair that I have to walk through it to get into the pub.

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“I don’t do myself up for that smell.

“It will obviously have an impact on pubs so they will need to think of a way to help everyone.

“The 2006 ban was well received but this one seems a step too far – it will be liked by some people but hated by others.”