THE first pub in the Darlington area to go completely non-smoking has been forced to scrap the policy after a drop in trade.

The Spotted Dog, in High Coniscliffe, reintroduced an indoor smoking section when it found that larger parties of visitors were put off by the ban.

Christmas party bookings were down after people heard about the policy.

Pub manager Simon Adamson said: "We found that it was usually one or two people in the party who were smokers.

"When we did it in the summer it was fine because people were going outside anyway, but in the winter people were obviously more reluctant to do that."

Smoking is now allowed in part of the pub, but it is still banned in the eating area.

As a result, the pub has had to return the Heartbeat Gold award it received from Darlington Borough Council.

Mr Adamson said he was disappointed that the policy had failed. But he said: "This doesn't mean we won't do it again in the future. I think people aren't ready for it yet," he said