Pub and church restricting chimney’s sway (9)
I believe the answer is:
influence
'sway' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'pub and church restricting chimney's' is the wordplay.
'pub' becomes 'inn' (an inn is a type of pub).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'church' becomes 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'restricting' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'chimney' becomes 'flue' (I've seen this before).
'inn'+'ce'='innce'
'innce' going around 'flue' is 'INFLUENCE'.
(Other definitions for influence that I've seen before include "Sway, dominance" , "The prestige and power to affect others" , "Pull, clout" , "Agency" , "Clue in fen (anag.)" .)