Welcome to the smokeless zone

Jul 1 2007 by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post

BLACK Horse pub in Wirral recently had a £500,000 makeover to emerge as the Collingwood bar and restaurant.

It now has an extensive covered terraced area in the courtyard, with its own heating and lighting, where smokers can legally congregate as at least 50% of it is open to the elements.

In addition to the “terasol” – as the area is known – there is also a “jumbrella”, which is basically a huge parasol and serves the same purpose.

VINCENZO MARGIOTTA, owner of Il Forno Italian restaurant, on Duke Street, has a designated “piazza” for smokers with halogen heated canopies and there are waste baskets on the walls for their litter.

 Come rain or shine, smokers will be able to smoke comfortably outside Il Forno. All the staff have been trained in group sessions, to understand the new legislation.

THE ban might not be universally popular among Merseyside pubgoers for whom cigarettes and alcohol go together like fish and chips.

In the more refined atmosphere of its restaurants, hotels and theatres, however, it is a different story. Most are already smoke-free or ensure that customers go outside to light up.

Typical is the new Malmaison hotel which has been smoke free since it opened earlier this year at Princes Dock. The same holds true for the city’s Italian Club on Bold Street.

Proprietor Rosaria Crolla said: “We’ve tried to replicate the authenticity of a café straight out of say Bologna, the food capital of Italy.”