SMOKERS will be banished from outdoor dining areas along King Street, Newtown, from today - but only on one side of the road.

Marrickville Council has imposed a ban on smoking at footpath tables that will affect west King Street businesses, but the City of Sydney, which controls the east side, has not. It's left some cafe owners worried business will simply drift across the road - and others defiant, saying they'll fight the ban.

Restricted ... patron Gareth Johnson has a cigarette at 2042 Cafe & Deli on King Street, Newtown. Credit:Janie Barrett

But the Heart Foundation has welcomed the move by Marrickville, Leichhardt and six other NSW councils to ban smoking in outdoor areas where food is served from today, bringing to 30 the total with such bans.

Smoking is increasingly restricted, with the Heart Foundation's annual smoke-free survey, due in late July, showing 89 of 152 NSW councils - including all but six Sydney metro councils - ban smoking in some outdoor areas such as playgrounds or sports fields. That is more than three times as many as four years ago.