Ejected pub smoker returns with knife

Smoke ban rebel Nick Hogan became the subject of yet more controversy after a man escorted from his pub for smoking returned armed with a carving knife.

Hogan recently served 12 days of a six-month sentence after failing to pay fines of more than £10,000 for allowing people to smoke in his pub, the Swan with Two Necks in Chorley, Lancashire.

In the early hours of Sunday 21 March doorman threw out an unknown man who had lit up on the dance floor.

The smoker returned around half an hour later at 2.45am, past closing time, clearly holding a carving knife.

Doorstaff secured the building before the man arrived and nobody was hurt.

"We think the threat was aimed at the doorman who escorted the man out," said Hogan, who was upstairs during the incident.

"Everyone knows how hard I fought against the smoking ban," said Hogan. "We have been forced into this situation."

CCTV images of the aggressor have been sent to the police and, once identified, the man will be banned from all pubs in the area by the local pubwatch.

The incident echoes the fears of fellow smoke rebel Tony Blows that he could not risk the safety of his staff by making them enforce the smoking ban.

Blows was fined £12,000 in court costs after losing his case in 2008 (Smoke ban rebel Blows hit with massive costs​).