Yesterdays Hotel, Newtown, Powys

Yesterdays news…
..for smoking

Yesterdays is a Georgian, town-centre, family run restaurant and guesthouse in Newtown now included in AA 'Britain's Best' B&B Guide. 2006 marks the tenth anniversary of a ban on smoking at this establishment. Owners Jim and Moyra have had no regrets and received only a few complaints during the first few months of the ban.

With enough room for 14 diners and six bedrooms, this hotel is renowned in the area for its traditional British food, using local ingredients. The decision to ban smoking was an easy one to make. As non-smokers themselves and with Moyra as front of house, it didn’t take long for the second-hand smoke of diners to take its toll. In addition one of their employees suffered from asthma. Enough was enough and in 1996 the last cigarette was smoked at Yesterdays.

“Smoking was never allowed in the bedrooms,” Moyra said, “We did allow it for a while in the restaurant and initially trade dipped after the ban but we found new business came our way which actually increased turnover.”

“Over the years attitudes have changed and we have noticed that more and more people are now actively seeking non-smoking establishments. We visited Ireland in May and noticed that one of the impacts of the ban in Ireland was that more businesses were using outside spaces for dining and drinking.