BOLTON-based pubs chain Yates' has become the latest company to join the Atkins craze sweeping the UK with the launch of a low-carbohydrate menu.

Yates', which has 130 pubs across the UK including Bradshawgate, Bolton, and Market Street, Bury, has launched an Atkins-style menu.

Meat, eggs and cheese feature prominently in a bid to avoid alienating the growing number of anti-carbohydrate dieters.

And the Yates's Burger, a chargrilled chicken breast covered in melted cheese, is now being sandwiched between two 6oz beef burgers instead of a bread roll.

In recent years, Yates' has attempted to move into the 21st Century. It scrapped the "wine lodge" identity and re-designed many of its bars: "to suit modern tastes."

The move into diet-friendly food is seen as the latest attempt to keep up with the times.

But the high-protein diet, popular with celebrities and rapidly becoming a favourite with other slimmers, has prompted controversy after medical experts warned of its possible effects on long-term health, including kidney damage.

Such warnings have not stopped restaurants and sandwich bars offering their own Atkins range.

Even Yates' traditional English breakfast is "threatened" -- the toast, fried bread and baked beans are being sacrificed for an extra large portion of bacon and sausages.

Richard Gornall, Yates's head of food, said: "We are responding to increasing concern about obesity, and we think that consumers are increasingly concerned over their weight."

Earlier this month Atkins Nutritionals launched a range of Atkins-friendly products for sale in health food shops in the UK, including chocolate bars and milkshakes.

The Atkins diet has grown in popularity since being formulated by American Doctor Atkins in the 1960s. Fans include former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell who put her trim shape down to the Atkins Diet.

Devotees follow the eating plan which allows them to eat unlimited eggs, cheese, cream, meat, fish and shellfish and consume carbohydrates like bread, potatoes and pasta in strictly small amounts.

Bolton nutritionist Mike Gorton warned against the diet.

He said: "I found it made me lethargic and listless."High protein diets cause lots of overwork for the internal organs and that could cause problems in the future."