Rebel pubs' U-turn as health board turns up heat

IF the first duty of a revolution is to get away with it, then smokers who lit up in the face of the law have failed spectacularly.

Last night the climbdown seemed complete as four pubs in the Rebel County capitulated in the face of hefty fines and smokers were banished to the great outdoors, no ifs or butts permitted.

Northside of Cork City, Ozzie Peyton, owner of Ozzie's Bar in Dillons Cross, lamented the lack of solidarity among fellow publicans. "If every publican took the stand and came out, we would have beaten this ban," he said.