Pub giant backs smoking ban

By BEEZY MARSH, Daily Mail

Last updated at 16:54 07 April 2004


One of Britain's biggest pub chains has backed calls for a smoking ban by 2006.

Tim Martin, chairman of JD Wetherspoon, said the Government should announce a total ban across the country as any bar which attempted to introduce a ban on its own initiative without official backing would risk going to the wall.

Mr Martin's comments come a week after Ireland forced smokers to stub out cigarettes in all bars, cafes and restaurants.

Britain's 13million smokers are coming under increasing pressure to quit because of clear links with heart disease, breathing disorders and lung cancer.

Passive smoking threat

At least 120,000 deaths a year in Britain are blamed on the habit, and there is growing evidence of the threat of passive smoking.

A spokesman for the pressure group Action on Smoking and Health said last night: 'We welcome the comments by the chairman of JD Wetherspoon.

'They are a very progressive chain, but we would actually want to see a ban imposed nationwide earlier than 2006.

'There is a wealth of evidence of the dangers of smoking and the Government has no excuse not to act sooner.'

National ban

It is now illegal in the Irish Republic to smoke in virtually all workplaces, enclosed public spaces and on public transport. Those who refuse to comply face fines of up to £2,000.

While similar laws have been passed in New York and California, Ireland is the first country to impose a national ban.

JD Wetherspoon has more than 600 pubs across the country.

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