Old Welsh words used for pub signs

Pubs in Wales will be forced to carry no-smoking signs using an old-fashioned Welsh word that health minister Brian Gibbons admits people won't understand.

The signs must say "It is against the law to smoke on these premises" in both English and Welsh.

Under the latest plans, "fangre" will be used for the word "premises" on the Welsh signs.

Gibbons admitted that this is a word of which people "would not know the meaning". A civil servant's report to the Welsh Assembly also said fangre is "an old-fashioned term no longer in common use and the people would not know its meaning".

But lawyers advised the Assembly that only the word fangre would encompass all locations that needed to be covered.

Wells Jones, licensee of the Angel in Cardigan, said: "People who speak Welsh as a second-language would have difficulty in knowing what fangre means - and

perhaps even some of the

first-language speakers after a few pints."

The signage requirements are included in the draft regulations for the Welsh ban, which begins on 2 April 2007. The regulations are due to be rubber stamped next January.