I could not agree more with Tony Anchors (Oxford Mail, October 26) that the non-smoking laws are bringing about the demise of the traditional English pub.

This law has done more damage to the pub's atmosphere than any of the temperance societies of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

These so-called righteous people, usually magistrates from upper or middle class backgrounds, tried to ban alcohol for their underlings, the working class, yet brought in off-licences to enable them to purchase alcohol for their own private use at home.

The same applies to the anti-smoking brigade today.

On their infrequent appearances in pubs, they objected to people smoking in their presence and somehow managed to get the law behind them to stop it.

Yet most pubs, my own local included, had separate non-smoking and smoking areas, with efficient air conditioning, and it worked well, until certain sections invaded the smoking area and started to object - deliberately going into the smoking areas.

But where are these objectors now?

Certainly not in pubs.

My own local used to have a good mix of smokers and non-smokers, who would sit around a table and put the world to rights, but not any more.

Smokers now have to disappear into a garden or outside in the road, thus killing off any conversation.

All the banter and atmosphere has gone and we are yet to reach winter! Have the non-smokers replaced those that do smoke? No way.

Many pubs are now empty inside, although out in the street or garden, smokers still congregate, often leaving a carpet of dog ends to be swept up the next day - now an offence in its own right.

How long will it be before the anti-smoking lobby bans smoking outside, as it is in certain states in the United States?

No wonder the pub trade has gone downhill, as proven in Ireland and Scotland where more than 200 pubs have closed in a year, smokers buying cheap drinks from supermarkets and drinking at home.

Pubs cannot survive on the occasional non-smoking crowd, It is time those of us who want to preserve the English pub stood up to be counted, even if it means a court appearance.

If that should happen and it would have to take many to do so, the publicity alone could ensure the law is changed.

Perhaps it is about time the English pub regulars made their voices known.

DEREK HONEY, Queen Emma's Dyke, Witney