You're barred Geraldine...

9:37am Wednesday 9th April 2008

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CHEERS but not for local MP Geraldine Smith, who has been shown the door by a Morecambe pub because of the Government's barmy rise in duty on beer. OK, it is not directly Geraldine's fault - but you can see why the landlord is angry.

He is fighting a losing battle to get people into his pub while super-markets sell four tins of lager for less than the price of one pint and the smoking ban threatens to strangle the life out of the traditional boozer.

Pricing the pubs out of business will not stop binge drinkingthe landlords themselves can stop that. Binge drinking will be a problem as long as stores sell booze as a loss leader - and the examples of what that leads to can be seen on canal banks and outside bus stations across the area.