Liverpool Council has said it doesn’t currently have plans to ban smoking in the pavement dining areas of restaurants and bars as a number of other councils have done.
Five English councils have now started to ensure restaurants, which are wishing to open out into public areas, have no smoking rules in place.
North Tyneside, Durham, Newcastle, Northumberland and Manchester City councils have all begun stipulating smoke-free pavement drinking and dining rules in the past year, according to their licensing conditions.
Oxfordshire is also considering a smoking ban for outdoor hospitality as part of its plans to become the first “smoke-free” county by 2025. Its proposals have been criticised by pro-smoking groups.
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Smoking tobacco damages the lungs, weakens the immune system and causes a range of severe respiratory problems.
In Liverpool, despite a large drop in the number of smokers over the last decade, 14.7 per cent of the population still use cigarettes, a slightly higher rate than the national average.
When approached by the ECHO, a Liverpool Council spokeswoman said the local authority currently did not have plans to use its licensing rules to block smoking in pavement dining areas.
Outdoor dining has become far more popular since the start of the pandemic, with councils across the country opening up space for bars and restaurants to function at a closer capacity to normal while maintaining social distancing.
While the city does not currently plan to follow other councils in barring smoking in pavement dining areas, there have been efforts to curtail smoking in areas of the city in recent years.
Most recently, Liverpool did introduce “smoke-free sidelines” rules at children’s football matches in 2019 to combat the issue there.
It also offers a range of support for those looking to quit smoking through its Smokefree Liverpool service.
