Boing Boing: Southampton pub declares itself an embassy to skirt smoking ban

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Southampton pub declares itself an embassy to skirt smoking ban

The Wellington Arms pub in Southampton is fighting back against a smoking ban in England by becoming the official embassy for the Caribbean island of Redonda. If the loophole works, then the pub will be considered "foreign soil" and the ban can't be enforced.

Redonda is a "one mile square remnant of the cone of an extinct volcano." According to Wikipedia, "The current title of 'king' of Redonda is disputed by at least nine people." Here's "king" Leo's site.

Yesterday a spokesman from the Department of Health confirmed that if the pub was granted embassy status then it would be exempt from next month's national smoking ban.
She said: "The new smoke free law will not be enforceable against premises with diplomatic status - as recognised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
"For the health of staff and visitors to overseas embassies and consulates, the Department of Health would encourage these premises to follow the principles of the new smoke-free law by eliminating second-hand smoke from their enclosed workplaces and public places."

Link (Via Nothing to do with Arbroath)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:31:15 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

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Support Bloggers' Rights! HOWTO: Get a link posted to Boing Boing Boing Boing Mobile powered by Winksite Fark rules! This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Boing Boing is a trademark of Happy Mutants LLC in the United States [and other countries]. Stats (About our stats) defeat censorware Policies Our first five years' worth of posts in one file	View a recent day: August 20 \| August 19 \| August 18 \| previous days \| by month and year Wednesday, June 27, 2007 Southampton pub declares itself an embassy to skirt smoking ban The Wellington Arms pub in Southampton is fighting back against a smoking ban in England by becoming the official embassy for the Caribbean island of Redonda. If the loophole works, then the pub will be considered "foreign soil" and the ban can't be enforced. Redonda is a "one mile square remnant of the cone of an extinct volcano." According to Wikipedia, "The current title of 'king' of Redonda is disputed by at least nine people." Here's "king" Leo's site. Yesterday a spokesman from the Department of Health confirmed that if the pub was granted embassy status then it would be exempt from next month's national smoking ban. She said: "The new smoke free law will not be enforceable against premises with diplomatic status - as recognised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. "For the health of staff and visitors to overseas embassies and consulates, the Department of Health would encourage these premises to follow the principles of the new smoke-free law by eliminating second-hand smoke from their enclosed workplaces and public places." Link (Via Nothing to do with Arbroath) posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:31:15 AM permalink \| Other blogs' comments View a recent day: August 20, 2007 \| August 19, 2007 \| August 18, 2007 \| August 17, 2007 \| August 16, 2007 \| August 15, 2007 \| August 14, 2007 \| previous days \| all BB archives by month and year Email this entry to: Your email address: Message (optional):	Boing Boing Sponsored by: Your Text Ad Here Get BB by email: