Smoking ban protest pub up for sale

A rural pub, which became the centre of a protest against the smoking ban last year, has become the latest drinking establishment to be put up for sale.

A rural pub, which became the centre of a protest against the smoking ban last year, has become the latest drinking establishment to be put up for sale.

Martin and Karen Turver reopened the Dog and Partridge at East Wretham, near Thetford, in 2006, four years after the 19th century building was closed following a loss of trade.

But the husband and wife team have now placed the pub on the market - five months after they became the first landlords in Norfolk to be prosecuted for violating the smoking ban.

The owners of the Dog and Partridge were given conditional discharges and ordered to pay more than £8,000 in costs at Thetford Magistrates' Court in July after admitting ten breaches of the anti smoking legislation between July and August 2007.

The couple, who claimed in court that they suffered considerable financial losses following the implementation of the smoking ban on July 1 last year, are marketing the freehold of the Breckland pub for £325,000.

Mr and Mrs Turver declined to comment at the weekend after the 'for sale' sign was placed on the Dog and Partridge last week.

But the website of Humberstones, of Norwich, which is selling the building - as well as more than 20 other licensed premises in the region - describes the “recently refurbished”, “pretty flint pub” as a “superb opportunity to build up the business.”

Thetford Magistrates' Court heard in July that the Mr and Mrs Turver, who live at the Dog and Partridge with their three children, had suffered a 30pc drop in turnover following the introduction of the smoking ban and were looking to turn it into a domestic premises.

The East Wretham pub first opened in 1886, but shut in 2002 following the impact of the foot and mouth crisis and changes to the local army bases.