The impact of the smoking ban is still too early to gauge with the bad weather more likely to affect sales, says one pub operator.

According to the Morning Advertiser, London brewer and pub chain Fuller's claims that the erratic weather has affected sales more clearly than the introduction of the smoking ban, which it says cannot yet be properly evaluated.

In a statement ahead of the company's annual general meeting, Fuller's said it had seen invested like-for-like sales in its managed pubs increase by 5.4 per cent in the first 16 weeks of the tax year.

The newspaper reported that the operator found the weather to be a far greater influence on income than the introduction of the smoking ban.

However, the report added that the variable English summer was "a challenge which we have learned to expect and address through the years".

A pub owner in Abingdon told the Independent today that he had woke to find a river of diesel and rain running through his premises as a result of the flooding.

"What can you do? If the water wants to get in, you are going to have a job stopping it," he said.

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