First smoke-free pub for Wetherspoon's

JD Wetherspoon is to open its first ever smoke-free pub next Sunday.

The new pub, George's Meeting House in Exeter, will be completely non-smoking throughout at all times. A second non-smoking pub will open in Swindon in March.

Wetherspoon's chief executive John Hutson said: "We wanted to gain experience of operating a non-smoking pub in advance of the smoking ban which will come into effect in pubs in 2008.

"We felt it would be easier to introduce the ban at one of our new pubs. However, other new pubs opening between the Exeter and Swindon outlets, will have both smoking and non-smoking areas for customers."

Each of the company's 650 pubs already has a smoke-free area, accounting for approximately one-quarter to one-third of the customer space.

During the past 12 months, the company's new pubs have operated a 70 per cent smoke-free policy until 6pm, before reverting back to the normal percentages.

Last year Wetherspoon's non-executive chairman Tim Martin caused a storm in the trade when he described an all-out smoking ban as "inevitable".