Shire Hotels will be the first UK hotel group to implement a blanket no-smoking policy throughout all public areas of its four-star hotels.

The no-smoking policy will include all bedrooms, public areas, bars, restaurants and meeting and events rooms. Smoking will only be allowed in designated external areas.

Managing director Ian Harkness said: “This move was borne mainly out of our desire to promote healthier lifestyle options to our guests and has been supported by a marked decrease in reservations for smoking rooms. We decided that January 2007 was the perfect time to implement the policy to give our guests an added incentive to try to quit before the national ban on 1 July 2007.”

The new policy will operate across all six of its four-star properties – Thorpe Park Hotel & Spa in Yorkshire; Cottons Hotel & Spa in Cheshire; North Lakes Hotel & Spa in Cumbria; Kettering Park Hotel & Spa in Northamptonshire; Aztec Hotel & Spa in Bristol and Solent Hotel & Spa in Hampshire. Details: www.shirehotels.com