Kath Duffy said: "If a big pub like that is closing, where that street is packed every weekend, what chance do the smaller pubs have?"

Yates's Wine Lodge, in St Nicholas Street, which opened in 1996, is expected to cease trading today with the loss of 15 jobs.

Just last year it was given a £100,000 revamp and was the overall winner in Scarborough's first Best Bar None competition – as well as scooping the top prize as the best bar. It is just yards from busy rivals Barracuda and Blue Lounge.

But this week Luton-based owners the Laurel Pub Company closed 60 of its sites across the country and put them up for sale.

A Laurel Pub Company spokeswoman said: "It is closing due to the impact of the smoking ban and difficult trading conditions."

Mrs Duffy, landlady of the Newcastle Packet in Sandside, said: "Even the people with beer gardens and smoking areas are still feeling the effects as well. In summer, when it's really nice, they will benefit but over the winter everyone has suffered."

She added the pub trade in Scarborough had always been a seasonal one and it had always been difficult between November and March. "But it's never been as bad as this winter. It's the same all over the country.

"It is very sad news about the loss of 15 jobs but other pubs will be taking more staff on at this time of year because it is seasonal work."

The Laurel Pub Company put 95 of its sites – including other leading brand names such as Hogs Head, Litten Tree and Bar Med – up for sale last month.

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