Industry bosses say the controversial plans to ban smoking in establishments selling food and around pub bars will seriously damage trade — and could force many smaller pubs to stop serving food or face bankruptcy.
As part of the proposals, released in a Government White Paper on health this week, private clubs and pubs not selling food will be allowed to decide whether to allow smoking to go-ahead — but all pubs selling food will be forced to ban tobacco by the end of 2008.
This week the proposals were slammed by a furious James Van Beck, landlord of the Market Tavern in Sutton, who said any ban would turn regulars away and finish his business.
"This ban is just ridiculous and is the nanny state gone mad," he said. "It should be down to the individual pub and person to choose whether they smoke or not and there is no way I will enforce this ban on my customers.
"There is a lot of opposition to this in the industry. I have not spoken to a single landlord yet who is in favour of stopping smoking in pubs. It is an unenforcable ban and I would rather go to jail than stop my customers smoking.
"This is not acceptable and it should not come into force - if it does my regulars will simply stay away and find another pub where they are allowed to smoke."
And his views were backed by Peter Clarkson, landlord at the Bridge Tavern in Mansfield, who said a ban would alienate his regulars and force him to close within six months.
He told Chad: "This will really affect my business and result in a serious downturn in trade. It will turn my regulars away who like a good smoke as they would not even be able to smoke around the bar. I would probably cease trading within six months.
"I agree with no smoking around food but there needs to be options to cater for both smokers and non-smokers."
Joining the protests, Juliette Rouse, landlady at The White Swan in Mansfield Woodhouse, said a ban would force her customers away and dramatically slash her profits.
"I have a lot of regulars who enjoy a smoke and would not come to the pub if they could not do so," she said. "I don't think a ban would put me out of business, but it would make it extremely difficult to run a viable company."
But Mick Reast, landlord at the Black Swan pub on Albert Street in Mansfield said he believed the plans would only hit pubs selling food rather than the industry as a whole.
He told Chad: "We should be OK because we do not sell food and I will continue to allow my regulars to smoke.
"Businesses selling food will be hit, but people should be able to smoke at night when food is no longer being served.
"I think if the ban goes ahead then it will split the pubs into non-smoking and smoking places so that everyone can have a personal choice of what type of pub they visit."