Dry cleaners hurt by smoking ban

The smoking ban means people are spending less on their dry cleaning bills

Johnson has blamed last year's ban on smoking in pubs in England for a tumble in profits at its dry cleaning chain.

Its dry cleaning business saw profits fall 28% to £1.8m in the six months to 30 June as customers' clothes no longer reek of stale smoke after a night out.

Johnson operates more than 500 stores under the Johnson Cleaners and Jeeves of Belgravia brands.

The smoking ban came into effect in England in July 2007, and has also been cited by some as hitting pub business.

"The smoking ban has now been effective for over 12 months and... this has impacted dry cleaning volumes," the firm said.

Overall profits at Johnson fell 80% to £400,000 in the six-month period, largely due to a poor performance at the company's facilities management business, which lost a key client.

The group has issued a number of profit warnings after worries about rising levels of debt.

To reduce its borrowings, the firm has sold its corporate clothing division, which made uniforms for Sainsbury's and Argos.

"We are now well positioned to seize commercial opportunities but unfortunately we are not immune to weaknesses in the UK economy, which continues to be difficult," the firm added.