Smoking ban shuts down Tony Blair's local

There are many factors responsible for the rapid decline in the amount of functioning pubs in the United Kingdom. Obviously, the recession had a huge impact on the industry. People are choosing to drink at home, if they drank at all, due to the cheapness of supermarket beer. One factor that has also been blamed by many landlords across the UK is the introduction of the smoking ban.

As one of his last acts in government, Tony Blair passed through the smoking ban legislation. On the first day of July in 2007, pubs all across Great Britain were beginning a smoke-free existence.

With the three year anniversary of the smoking ban almost upon us, some may say it is fate that the former Prime Minister’s old local has been added to the vast number of extinct public houses. To add insult to injury, Tory chancellor George Osborne’s budget may have been the final nail in the coffin.

The Trimdon Constituency Labour Club was where Blair announced his campaign to run for party leader in 1994 and has since been the backdrop for some of the former PM’s biggest celebrations. The club was originally set up by Neil Kinnock in 1993. Since then Blair has entertained former French President Lionel Jospin and held a long phone call there with Bill Clinton in which the pair discussed the Middle East.

The club’s secretary Paul Trippet admitted that the club had been “losing money quite steadily” and added that it was “in part due to the smoking ban”. Smoking cessation was a major issue during Mr. Blair’s term and continues to be a hot topic today with councils around the country discussing taking the ban further by making many outside areas smoke free zones.