BLOODSPORTS is an issue that invariably gets many people's blood boiling - and now some folk seem to be on the verge of choking on their chicken dinners because of the hunting controversy.

As today's story reveals, anti-bloodsports campaigners are calling for a boycott of one of the town's most popular restaurants, Smithills Coaching house, because of its use by groups like the Holcombe Hunt. They claim that Labour councillor Cliff Morris, who runs the Coaching House, should fall into line with the Labour Party's anti-hunt policy and his own council's stance, which has seen fox hunting banned on Bolton Council land.

Here's one politically-inclined businessman who is caught between the fox and the hounds in this instance. And as just one director of a limited company, it seem impossible for him to satisfy both sides in the matter.

Most BEN readers probably sympathise with the anti-bloodsports brigade. But few fans of the Coaching House will be prepared to ignore this popular eating house on a point of principle.

Bolton prides itself on being a tolerant town and peaceful protests invariably sway more folk than tough, hard-line tactics. However commendable their cause, the anti-bloodsports campaigners run a real risk of alienating a lot of otherwise sympathetic supporters by taking to task one of the town's best loved amenities.

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