PUBS in Bolton are encouraging staff to stub it out by providing a free advice line for those who want to quit.

Managers at the Beehive, Lostock, and the Cotton Kier in Bolton town centre are working with Nicorette to give staff a helpline number, a personal progress monitor and a special token that stays in the smokers' pocket and reminds them not to smoke.

Anyone who calls the helpline will be given a relaxation tape, narrated by television's Dr Chris Steele.

Sarah Perrins of Two for One, the brewery which owns both pubs, said: "We're delighted to be working with Nicorette.

"The health of our team is of the utmost importance to us. We don't feel it would be fair simply to stop our people smoking in our back of house areas without offering help with giving up."