Its owners said it had seen a drop in custom since the ban was introduced last March.

Curly Lloyds Partnership said complaints from neighbours regarding the noise from patrons stepping outside for a smoke was another factor in the decision to call time on the pub.

The company decided look at alternatives uses for the Haugh Road property after the present tenants, Mags Johnson and her husband Martin Gordon, advised them they were moving on.

The bar had been leased to the local couple for the past nine months.

A spokesman said: “Since the introduction of the smoking ban there has been a drop in custom, as well as some complaints from neighbours regarding the noise from patrons stepping outside for a smoke.

“As the bar is in a predominantly residential area the owners and their tenants did not think it appropriate to introduce an external smoking area as this may have made the noise issue for neighbours worse.”

He added: “Recently, however, the tenants advised that they were moving on and Curly Lloyds Partnership took the opportunity to lodge the planning application to give them options should they be unable to find suitable tenants given the fragile condition of the licensing trade.”

An application is being considered by the Highland Council planning department to change the bar into three upmarket flats complete with parking.

Ramsay McGhee, Highlands and Islands area manager for the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, told the Highland News: “It comes as no real surprise that the first real casualty in Inverness of the smoking ban is an old established pub. It will now be closing down with the resulting loss of both full and part-time jobs.”

The Haugh Bar became notorious in 1993 when landlord at the time Patrick Wight banned English people from drinking there and the pub’s reputation lingered even after his departure.

Under the recent landlords, the bar became a popular haunt for the eastern European community in Inverness.

c.hay@highland-news.co.uk

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