THE Citizen reported on January 27 that the J D Wetherspoon pub chain plans to ban smokers.

Does boss Tim Martin really want to ban all smoking in his chain of pubs - it's a noble gesture but quite frankly his revenues are going to take a massive (but hopefully not catastrophic) dive after implementation by the planned date of May 2006.

Having visited several of his outlets up and down the length and breadth of the country, it's absolutely apparent that the bulk of his custom is from working class men of all ages.

There's nothing wrong with that except for the fact that a first year stats student will tell you that working class men comprise the highest group of smokers per capita in the UK.

Citizen has correctly identified that the chain markets its products cheaper than most of the competition', and as a consequence has developed a clientele that love those cheaper prices for their booze, the cheap (but not unpalatable) grub and yes, they love their cigarettes.

Tim, don't bite the hand that feeds you - if I was a shareholder in the company I would be seriously considering offloading as a result of this announcement.

Roger Marsh, Morecambe