Smoking ban and cheap beer put pay to Blair's Labour Club
The Labour Club in Tony Blair's constituency is to close after suffering from the effects of the smoking ban and cheap supermarket beer.
The Trimdon Labour Club in Blair's County Durham constituency provided the backdrop for Blair's resignation and for his announcement that he would stand for party leadership in 1994.
The club will close next month but will return as a pub with no political affiliation.
Club Secretary Paul Tripett said the club had been losing money for a while.
"The smoking ban did play a part, especially during winter months, but what's really done for us is cheap beer," he told the BBC.
"In the club £10 will unfortunately only get you four pints of lager but if you go to one of the big supermarkets, £10 will get you 48 cans.
"Really, you can't compete with that."
Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers chief executive Nick Bish said: "It's always distressing when licensed premises have to close but in this case the patrons need look no further than their own party in Government for someone to blame.
"The smoking ban may have had good intentions but it was shockingly badly implemented — Dr John Reid saw the signs and suggested special categories, but was ignored."
He added: "And to make matters worse the Government landed tax after tax and rule after rule on the on-trade and let the supermarkets sell whatever booze they liked, whenever they liked and at whatever price they could screw out of their suppliers and the pubs, clubs and bars can't compete — and the most vulnerable go to the wall."
