Anti-smoking campaigners have welcomed the news that Pizza Hut, one of the high street's most popular restaurant chains, has introduced an outright smoking ban.
In a move that will raise concerns among licensees, Pizza Hut has announced that diners will no longer be able to have a drag with their dough balls in any of the company's 500 outlets.
The company says that the unprecedented step has been taken in order to protect both customers and staff from the perils of passive smoking at a time when it claims 80 per cent of people support smoke-free provision in public places.
Brian Rimmer, operations director for Pizza Hut, is calling on other high street restaurant operators to follow its lead.
"We strongly believe that families should be able to take time to have a leisurely meal in a restaurant without exposing their children to other people's smoke," he said.
"It is equally important that our staff can work in a smoke-free environment. We feel this is a significant step forward for the UK restaurant industry and hopefully some of our competitors will follow suit in the near future."
Nick Bish, head of the industry's Charter Group on Smoking, which promotes self-regulation on smoking through the use of signage, good ventilation and no-smoking areas where possible, said: "This is good for the industry and the Charter as it makes legislation less likely.
"This demonstrates absolutely that the industry is on the case, tailoring smoking policies to individual markets.
"Pizza Hut wouldn't have made the decision if it wasn't going to work and has acted carefully and responsibly."
Deborah Arnott, director of the anti-tobacco campaigning group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), strongly supported Pizza Hut's move to go smoke-free.
"This will be good for staff, good for customers and good for business. Pizza Hut is to be congratulated for taking this initiative and starting what we believe will be a trend for restaurants in the UK to go smoke-free."
Jean King, Cancer Research UK's director of tobacco control, added that a smoke free environment should not be confined to restaurants. "All employers have a duty to safeguard the health of their workers and their customers. We're delighted to see Pizza Hut taking this responsible action and hope that bars will follow their lead."