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Smoke-on-Trent

Smokers are still puffing away happily in pubs in Stoke-on-Trent and will be for another three weeks.

Thanks to blundering council bosses it is the only place in Britain where you can still light up in pubs and clubs.

Officials failed to get enforcement powers approved in time for the July 1 ban and won't get them in place until the beginning of August.

Delighted smokers are puffing away in the city's 400 pubs without fear of an on-the-spot £50 fine.

At the Smithfield Bar customers are greeted with the sign "Welcome to Smoke-on-Trent".

Landlord Dax Robateau, who spent £21,000 on building an outside smoking area, said: "We were all ready for July 1.

"Now it seems that the only people who weren't ready were the council. I'm going to allow customers to carry on smoking until August."

The city's public health director Dr Giri Rajaratnam said: "We're certain most people and businesses will stick to the law."

The city council explained: "We don't have enforcement powers because Stoke has both a mayor and a council manager.

"We thought enforcement powers were delegated to the director of community services - but they weren't."