A recent smoking survey revealed that northern Leatherhead has the highest proportion of smokers in Mole Valley.

Luke Bishop spoke to residents – smokers and non-smokers – to find out why.

It has long been known that smoking is a dirty, dangerous and too-often fatal habit, yet millions do it each day.

Mole Valley has the lowest rate of smoking in Surrey, with just 17.2 per cent of the population smoking.

But according to statistics from NHS Surrey primary care trust (PCT), North Leatherhead bucks this trend with a massive 27.9 per cent of residents being smokers.

One relapsed smoker who lives in the area is Andy Thompson, 62, of Kingston Road, who smokes small cigars, which he says are the equivalent of around 40 per day.

The retired broadcast journalist has been smoking since he was 15, but managed to give up for a year before returning to the habit last October.

Mr Thompson, a regular at the Royal Oak, said: "The reason I stopped was because I ran out of money – I couldn't afford it anymore.

"The fact that everyone in the pub smoked meant that I used to go out and chat to them all the time when they went out for a cigarette.

"It became natural to start up again – the smoking ban has been counter- productive.

"I can see no reason why this area would be worse. We'll hear about socio-economic groups but I'm not sure that explains it."

Tina Young, the landlady of the Royal Oak, says her business has suffered from the smoking ban.

She said: "I am a smoker and many of my regulars are smokers, which is why the smoking ban has hit me even harder."

In light of the high smoking rate, NHS Surrey has been concentrating much of its efforts on the area.

Alison Hook is a tobacco control specialist at the PCT. She said: "What I would say is that we are aware of pockets of high smoker-rates and we are doing all sorts of events and undertaking initiatives to try and work with the community."

This has included presentations at Leatherhead Trinity School and Children's Centre, and the Tesco supermarket in Oxshott Road, as well as working with the Molebridge Surgery in Kingston Road.

Recently the PCT has also been running stop smoking sessions at the B@titude charity shop, which have already had some success.

She added: "We know in the North Leatherhead community we have got whole families that are smoking, and what we are aiming to do, through educating young people, is to denormalise smoking.

"If we can get the parents to stop and work with the children so they don't take up smoking, the hope is that the prevalence will gradually go down."