Council plan to ban smoking on Brighton beach

If it goes ahead, it will be the only no smoking beach in the UK


Health-obsessed council officials have proposed plans to make Brighton the first city in the UK to ban smoking on the beach.

So far reaction to the outdoor smoking ban has been mixed, with smokers complaining they are already unable to smoke inside public buildings.

Brighton also has a voluntary ban on smoking in children’s playgrounds, but the council are hoping to extend this to include parks and beaches.

Anyone got a light?

A 12 week consultation period has begun during which councillors will assess whether the ban should go forward. Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said the move could be good for the environment as well as public health.

In response to news of the ban, Billy Darke, a social smoker and former bartender at Brighton’s famous gay bar Revenge, said: “Although the amount of deaths caused by smoking each year need to be tackled, not letting people smoke in an outside area is ridiculous. There’s no evidence smoking outside can harm anyone else around you.”

Chelsea Coleman, a second year psychologist, told The Tab: “I think it’s ridiculous because it’s an open space, if not the most open space in Brighton. The ban isn’t going to stop people smoking there at all, it will only create problems.”