Pubs swear war on mobiles

Many customers find the use of mobile phones irritating

A major pub chain is considering banning foul-mouthed drinkers as part of a clampdown on swearing.

JD Wetherspoon, which has 650 pubs around the country, is looking at ways of tackling abusive language after customers wrote letters of complaint to the firm's in-house magazine.

Wetherspoon founder and chief executive, Tim Martin, is also trying to encourage people to avoid using mobile phones.

One proposal is to ban phones in the non-smoking areas while asking customers to turn them off completely where possible.

The moves were prompted by a couple who wrote to the company described the use of bad language as "embarrassing".

Mobile phones 'bugbear'

A spokesman for Wetherspoon said: "We had a few customers write in asking what could be done about the problem of swearing.

"Of course people are going to swear and if it's quiet and kept to a minimum we won't make a big issue of it.

"But where people are effing and blinding, we may refuse to serve them and ask them to leave."

The company is also considering posting messages on menus and other point of sale items asking customers to refrain from using bad language.

Responding to complaints about the irritation caused by mobile phone users, Mr Martin said the noise of them drove him "crazy".

The company's spokesman said: "Mobile phones in pubs is an ongoing bugbear.

"We understand we can't please all the people all the time on this, but we will be asking customers to keep ringing to a minimum or turn them off completely if possible.

"We are also considering banning them completely from certain sections of our bars."

The company is talking to managers about the best way to introduce the new policies.