While coffee shop patrons using outside tables will be exempt from the smoking ban, anyone else caught smoking in the area will cop a $200 fine.

Mr Madigan said he agreed the area is intimidating despite improvements made to the laneway in recent years.

‘There are two types of people I am constantly having to get rid of. The first is the drug dealers and the second is the younger people who have left school with no job prospects, no money and nothing to do,” he said.

“Since Post Office Lane is in the heart of town, that’s where the action is and that’s understandable from a young person’s perspective but whatever the council can do to open up Post Office Lane for the entire community is a good thing not only for my business but for everyone else as well.”

The post office smoking bans are expected to come into force within the next two weeks once signage is installed in the area.