It has now been 19 years since smoking was banned inside English pubs, and over that time support for the measure has only increased. According to a 2024 poll, 88% of the British public say they back the public health measure – including 70% of smokers.
But for those still craving a return to the smell of smoke-saturated stool cushions and patches of ash on the carpet, an option is out there. The hard-right Restore Britain party, led by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, has pledged to bring back indoor smoking in pubs if it wins power. And Lowe doesn’t want to stop there – he also wants landlords to be able to serve under-18s low-alcohol booze at the bar.
Party Unveils Policies in Video
The policies were unveiled in a video posted to the party’s social media pages, presented by cider maker and Restore policy advisor Matt Slocombe. He said the party believes it should be ‘up to the landlord or landlady’ to decide if they want a smoking room in their pub, adding: ‘If you’d like to have a well-vented smoking room, then you should have one.’
‘And if you don’t want to go into the smoking room, don’t go there.’ This would be a ‘great incentive’ and ‘potential lifeblood’ for pubs, Slocombe said.
The video continues with him saying that to maintain the pub’s position as a community gathering place, Restore would also let ‘supervised pubs’ serve ‘low-strength drinks’ to 16 and 17-year-olds. Slocombe also calls for reducing the tax burden on local pubs, including business rates.
Timing and Context
The video was posted around an hour after new Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced hospitality businesses, including pubs, would be offered a 20% cut in business rates from April next year.
Rupert Lowe sparked outrage earlier this month when he described the 1996 Dunblane massacre, in which 16 children and their teacher were killed, as ‘one murder’. The Restore leader told Joe Rogan’s popular podcast that the gun ban following the tragedy meant his father had to give up ‘the pistols he used to shoot with at Oxford University’.
Jack Crozier, whose sister Emma was killed in the shooting, told Sky News: ‘Rupert Lowe’s father had his pistols taken away. My father had his daughter taken away. ‘He knew exactly what happened at Dunblane. He made an active choice, on one of the world’s biggest podcasts, to describe the massacre of 16 five and six-year-old children and their teacher as “one murder”.’
