I don't usually tend to blog about general news but I heard this on the local radio the other day and now it's making it to the BBC site and it's not to far from where I live. A bit of background first, in England on the 1st July we follow Ireland, Scotland, and Wales and go smoke free in public areas like pubs. Now to get around this (and i'm surprised no one else has thought of this) one pub in Southampton, Hampshire is planning on becoming an embassy for a remote(uninhabited) Caribbean island called Redonda.
Bob Beech wants to turn The Wellington Arms in Freemantle, Southampton, into the UK base of the uninhabited Redonda.It follows the pub already being granted status as a consulate of Redonda by the island's king and Mr Beech receiving a Redondan knighthood.
So what does this mean, well if they win they are exempt from the smoking ban, but not only that they are exempt from VAT as well so it'll be cheap drinks too!!Sadly though a Foreign Office spokeswoman said
But a Foreign Office spokeswoman said that Redonda was a territory of Antigua and Barbuda and therefore was not entitled to an embassy or high commission in the UK.