Hundreds of pub-goers in Chorley have caused controversy for launching a campaign to scrap the smoking ban.
A petition with signatures from more than 400 revellers is making the rounds in pubs in the town to get the government to lift legislation brought in last year.
The protestors are pushing for a change in the law that would give licensees more power and create pubs exclusively for smokers and non-smokers .
The campaign comes just months after rebel landlord Nick Hogan, who runs the Swan with Two Necks on Hollinshead Street, was ordered to pay more than £10,000 after being found guilty of failing to step people from not smoking in his pub on four separate occasions.
Tom McLeod started the petition with a campaign group called the Tap Room Boys at his local pub, Trader Jacks, also on Hollinshead Street. It has visited dozens of premises in the town to rally round support.
Mr McLeod, 69, who has been smoking since he was 11, said: "I had a paper round and used to buy cigarettes for twopence and have smoked ever since.
"We used to have tap rooms where people could smoke, have a pint and play darts but the whole atmosphere in pubs has changed since last year.
"The smoking ban was like a big shock to a lot of people and I hope the petition will help to change things.
"It's a long campaign and we have to keep it going to get a result - I want to take it to Westminster to get something done about not being allowed to smoke in pubs because it's affecting people's social life.
"It's the tip of the iceberg and everyone I've spoken to is just fed up with the way this has been handled
"I'm a pensioner and many people don't understand that it's part of our enjoyment and we should have the right to choose what we want to do."
Last Orders landlady Kath Dunnington, 59, says business has slowed down significantly since the smoking ban was introduced last year.
She said: "It's hit us hard because people used to come in for a pint and a smoke but now you have to stand outside in the cold.
"A lot of my customers are elderly and when the ban was introduced I've had to go up to an 80-year-old war veteran and tell him he can't smoke in here.
"It would be wise to introduce pubs for smokers and non-smokers which would solve the problems with the smoking ban.
"People should have the freedom of choice and not be told by the government what they can and can't do."
However the chances of the campaign being a success appear remote.
On July 1 England introduced a new law to make virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces in England smokefree in response to health fears about breathing in second-hand smoke.
The full article contains 502 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
