Café award for stubbing out smoking

From the archive, first published Wednesday 15th Mar 2006.

AN Alcester café has won a special award for being smoke-free.

Tudor Rose Tea Room on High Street was the first in the Stratford district to receive the silver National Clean Air Award for protecting staff and customers from the effects of second-hand smoke.

The café, owned and run by husband and wife Gary and Debbie Merrifield, was recognised for implementing an effective smoke-free policy ahead of legislation coming into effect next summer.

The awards are a Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation initiative and the first UK-wide scheme to reward organisations which put in place an effective workplace no-smoking policy.

Mr Merrifield said: "It's nice that we got the award as I don't personally smoke and neither do my family. We feel that it's nice for people not to have to breathe it in when they come here to eat."

Gary and Debbie changed the café into a fully non-smoking restaurant when they took it over two years ago and said it has done nothing but benefit their business and the environment they work in.

"We only lost one or two customers in the beginning but we soon got them back. We feel that any business that makes itself into a no-smoking zone will gain from it."

The couple's next plan is for the Healthy Food Award and they are already devising a healthier menu.

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