Your pub guide to the smoking ban

More than 80 per cent of London pubs are set to become smoke-free.

An Evening Standard survey today shows what the impact will be of a new law banning smoking in pubs which serve food.

Our figures show that in London, acknowledged as the gastropub capital of Britain, four out of five pubs serve food.

The legislation which will come into force in 2008 means that pubs serving food must have a complete smoking ban.

That means that in three boroughs - Enfield, Hounslow and Sutton - there will not be one pub which allows its punters to smoke.

The vast majority of others in the West End and Westminster, Southwark and Camden will also be smoke-free.

A handful of boroughs could remain smoking havens. These include Barking and Dagenham, where eight in 10 pubs do not serve food, as well as Harrow, Lambeth and Tower Hamlets. A spokesman for Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) said the legislation would protect bar staff and allow people to go out without risking passive smoking.

"It will save thousands of lives every year as vulnerable people are no longer exposed to dangerous secondhand smoke at work and as thousands of smokers are encouraged to cut down or quit," he said.

The figures come as a report by the British Medical Association shows that pubs in the north of England are significantly less likely to serve food than in the south.

In Leeds only one in 10 pubs serves food, meaning the city and others like it will hardly be affected by the smoking ban.