It is widely being reported that government ministers are facing huge calls by peers this week to put a ban on smoking outside pubs, bars and restaurants.
Ministers are being urged to address outdoor smoking and the uses of designated smoking areas in the interest of public health as “pavement drinks”, alfresco dining and outdoor socialising continues to be widely embraced by many hospitality establishments after post-lockdown reopenings amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
A group of cross-party peers are believed to be set to challenge ministers in Parliament today during a debate on emergency planning legislation and are set to force a vote on the issue next week.
According to The i, the peers are to table an amendment to the Business and Planning Bill which stipulates that pavement licences should only be granted by a local authority subject to the condition that smoking is banned.
Deborah Arnott, the Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said: “Making smoke-free status a condition for all pavement licences sets a level playing field for business and the public, and has strong public support, which will make it easy to enforce.”
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Alison Cox, Director of Prevention at Cancer Research UK, added that: “The pandemic has changed the way we live and most of us are spending more time outside, but being stuck in a queue or outside a café, escaping second hand smoke isn’t an easy option anymore.”
“Second-hand smoke is harmful and can be unpleasant to those nearby and smoke-free environments are important in protecting people and denormalising smoking in society.”
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As many streets in Manchester city centre, primarily in the Northern Quarter and surrounding areas, have become temporarily pedestrianised to allow for additional al-fresco dining/drinking tables in the name of social distancing, and with similar set-ups seen throughout the boroughs too, is outdoor smoking becoming something of a growing concern to patrons in our county?
Here at The Manc, we always want to know where you stand.
Ahead of a parliamentary decision, we were keen to find out whether a ban would be be supported, or viewed as unnecessary in Greater Manchester, so we took to our audience of loyal Mancunians on Facebook and Twitter to ask – ‘Do you think smoking should be banned outside restaurants/bars?’
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Here’s what you said:
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Facebook
Over on Facebook, we put the question to our 500,000+ followers and invited all manner of response.
We received an overwhelmingly active response from our audience to this question and therefore haven’t been able to include every single comment in this article. Instead, we chose to feature a range of responses which seemed to resonate best with others and amass the most interactions overall.
If you are keen to have a read of the rest of the responses and have your say, you can head on over to the post on our Facebook page here.
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Twitter
When it came to Twitter, we chose to ask the simple ‘yes/no’ question, and in the two-hour time frame to which the poll was running for, we received a total of 1,034 votes.
According to the standings, voting appeared closer than ever.
Whilst results were running neck and neck throughout the majority of the two-hour period, they finally edged over and signalled that voters feel a ban on smoking outside of pubs, bars and restaurants in England is not necessary and should not take effect.
51% of voters felt a ban would not be needed under current circumstances, whereas only 49% indicated they would like to see one put in place.
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Follow-up responses to this poll were also invited and can be viewed here.
Are you keen to have your say?
If you’ve not yet had the chance to respond our poll, then there is still time to head on over to @TheMancUK on Twitter to take part, leave your thoughts and discuss matters with other Mancunians in the same, or different positions to you.
Do you think smoking should be banned outside of pubs and restaurants?
The Manc is helping local businesses and venues get back on their feet after lockdown with our #BuzzingToBeBack campaign – offering as much support and exposure for Manchester hospitality as possible.
Read more about what we’re doing for the industry here.
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For the latest information, guidance and support during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the UK, please do refer to the gov.uk website here.
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Football Manager 25 has been officially cancelled following delays
Danny Jones
Beloved videogame simulator Football Manager 25 has been officially cancelled following continued delays.
The long-standing game where players take control as virtual managers of football teams has been a mainstay of digital sporting entertainment for more than three decades.
Developed by London-based studio Sports Interactive and published by gaming giants SEGA, the game hasn’t missed a single season since it began life as Championship Manager back in 1992.
However, following two significant delays to this year’s title, Sports Interactive have confirmed that Football Manager 25 has now been cancelled, despite countless pre-orders having already been made.
While the news doesn’t come as a total surprise, with FM25 having first been delayed ahead of its initial November 2024 release date and then moved again to March 2025, many fans would
The statement reads: “Sports Interactive [SI] regret to inform that, following extensive internal discussion and careful consideration with SEGA, we have made the difficult decision to cancel Football Manager 25 and shift our focus to the next release.
“For the large numbers of you who pre-ordered FM25, we thank you enormously for your trust and support – we’re very sorry to have let you down. Please see the FAQs below on obtaining your refund.
“We know this will come as a huge disappointment, especially given that the release date has already moved twice, and you have been eagerly anticipating the first gameplay reveal. We can only apologise for the time it has taken to communicate this decision.
“Due to stakeholder compliance, including legal and financial regulations, today was the earliest date that we could issue this statement.”
Insisting that they pride themselves on “delivering the best value for money games that bring you countless hours of enjoyment”, they simply didn’t feel like they were able to release the latest FM title to a good enough standard in its current state following playtesting.
They go on to add that ahead of working on this, the studio undertook the “biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation, laying the building blocks for a new era”, hence why the significant delays. The news has been met with mixed reactions, to say the least.
Don’t worry only gotta wait till November!!! Only in February FFS
— Out of Context Football Manager (@nocontextfm1) February 7, 2025
You can read the statement in full HERE, in which they also rationalise that it simply no longer made sense or felt fair to expect people to buy FM25 when it was ready only to purchase the next instalment later in the year.
Fortunately, with regular updates as well as community mods and patches to the current Football Manager (FM24 was released back in November 2023), loyal fans have been more understanding about the delays and now the cancellation.
SI signed off by stating: “Through the cancellation, every effort is now focused on ensuring that our next release achieves our goal and hits the quality level we all expect. We will update you on how we are progressing with that as soon as we are able to do so.
“Thank you for reading, your patience and your continued support. Our full focus now returns to creating a new era for Football Manager.”
Lighting a candle for the people who collect a physical copy of every Football Manager, with no FM25 their collections will be ruined forever. pic.twitter.com/M1S5LiLJtQ
A Greater Manchester Wetherspoons has been revealed as ‘one of the UK’s most beloved pubs’
Danny Jones
Whatever you make of them, Wetherspoons remains the biggest pub chain in the UK and millions of Brits drink in them every week; in fact, as it turns out, one of their Greater Manchester locations has just been revealed as ‘one of the most beloved pubs’ in the country.
The J D Wetherspoon name is one you’ll typically see at least once if not more in most towns and cities and given that they boast more than 800 across the UK and Ireland, their dominance of the UK drinking scene remains pretty steadfast.
Although many have railed against the massive franchise over the past few years, with thousands famously flocking to use the ‘Neverspoons’ app within just a week of its launch back in 2020, an estimated 20.5 million visit every six months.
The point being, ‘Where is the nearest Spoons?’ is a very common query online and punters still regularly search for them on Google Maps – quite literally, as it happens, as the latest data from the tech giants has revealed just how popular one particular Manchester location is. Drum roll, please…
Marking 20 years of Google Maps’, those behind the website and app pooled together their stats on the best-loved pubs nationwide and, yes, Manchester’s very own Moon Under The Water managed to make the top 20.
The busy Deansgate boozer, famous for rowdy weekends and being one of if not the only Wetherspoons we know of that includes a built-in dancefloor (perhaps the only one full stop) is certainly a memorable watering hole – provided you don’t drink so much you struggle to recollect much of anything.
Whilst we’re on the subject of Wetherspoons, they actually take up half of the list with various venues up and down the country, including four of the top five.
Other names that made the cut were Waxy O’Connor’s London, which once had a space in Manchester’s Printworks; England’s so-called oldest pub, the Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem in Nottingham, as well as few other storied London public houses.
For context, this list was compiled strictly by using data directly from the search engine. The top spots are based on places that have the most reviews and a rating over 4.0 stars on Google Maps and those locations were then calculated by the number of reviews and average review rating taken into account.
The main bar areaThe view from above looking down onto the dancefloorIt is the biggest and one of the most frequented Wetherspoons in all of Greater Manchester. (Credit: The Manc Group)
We’ll admit, of all the brilliant Manchester pubs and bars we know and love, we were quite expecting to see a simple Spoons beating them all out on the list.
Meanwhile, as part of the wider 20th-anniversary round-ups, Google also shared the likes of ‘best’/most-searched restaurants in the country, as well as some of the most popular Italian spots.
The only nod Greater Manchester received was among dining spots, with Turtle Bay’s Northern Quarter venue coming in at number 10.
So, what do you reckon then: are you a fan of Spoons and, more specifically, The Moon Under Water, or do you only support independent pubs and bars?