Cloud hangs over hotel's cigar shacks

Published on Wednesday 30 January 2008 09:27

AFTER initially falling foul of Edinburgh's licensing laws, the £10 million Hotel du Vin development is now facing a headache from Scotland's smoking laws.

The historic College of Physicians laboratory on Bristo Square is currently being transformed into a plush new hotel, offering fine wines and Cuban cigars.

One of the hotel chain's main selling points are its unique "cigar shacks" – comfortable smoking lounges in a heated outdoor shelter.

However, the crowded Old Town architecture and the laboratory building's enclosed courtyard have meant the Edinburgh team has now had to return to the drawing board. Before the UK-wide smoking ban, Hotel du Vin – a sister company of the Malmaison group – became known for hosting lavish cigar parties in its bistros.

When the smoking laws were introduced, hotel bosses came up with an innovative design for a partially-walled shelter which employs "warm air curtains" at the open end to keep it cosy.

But it has now emerged that the existing cigar shack design would not be suitable for Edinburgh.

Stephanie Briggs, director of interior design for Hotel du Vin, said: "The courtyard is completely enclosed on all sides and is quite compact, to the extent that it's less of a courtyard and more of a meeting place.

"For this reason none of our current designs would be appropriate as they would obstruct the view of the courtyard from the overhanging rooms.

"We could probably still install one of our original shacks in the courtyard and remain within the smoking regulations, but we decided it would be better to do something bespoke specifically for the Edinburgh hotel."

Whatever the design, the cigar shack is likely to include features such as underfloor heating, wall-mounted plasma screens and leather armchairs for patrons to enjoy their stogies in comfort.

In a further complication, city planners have now said that as there was no provision for a smoking shelter in Hotel du Vin's original planning application, any further additions will probably have to be cleared through them.

The hotel firm has said it will submit its new designs in due course.

A spokesman for anti-smoking campaigners Action on Smoking Health (Ash) said: "As long as any proposed shelter stays within smoking regulations and does not present a passive-smoking danger to staff or customers, we would not have any objection to a cigar smoking shelter being built within the courtyard."

Two weeks ago, hotel bosses breathed a sigh of relief when the city's licensing board overturned the controversial original decision to block its drinks licence bid.