77145-122A PUB in Stratton has become the first in the town to call time on smokers. And it is going down a treat with the punters.

The Dockle Farmhouse, which opened its doors for the first time last night, will not allow anyone to light-up inside the building.

Manager Andrew Fletcher, 44, said: "The pub is totally non-smoking. We have had hundreds of feedback forms and I would say 90 per cent of them back the non-smoking policy.

"There is massive support for it."

The Dockle Farmhouse, formerly the Greenbridge Pub, is now part of the JD Wetherspoon's Lloyds No. 1 brand.

Once the Pressed Steel Social Club, it becomes the latest no-smoking pub to be opened by the chain the others are in Exeter and Bath in preparation for a complete ban in 2008. And the customers seem more than happy to see the smokers banished outside.

Philip Hewer, 51, of Gorse Hill, said: "We'll come here because it's non-smoking.

"Whenever we go on a day out we always look for a Wetherspoon because even their other ones have big no-smoking sections."

And Rob Blanchard, 61, of Stratton, was equally impressed.

He said: "I do agree with live and let live but why should we be made to suffer other people's smoke? I'm all for non-smoking pubs and I shall use this place regularly." Area manager Gill Roberts, who overseas nine pubs in the south west, is convinced the Dockle Farmhouse will prove a hit.

She said: "The company has invested a lot of money into this pub and I'm sure it will be a roaring success."

And it is not just the customers who appreciate the benefits of a cigarette ban.

It also means the staff do not have to put up with going home smelling like an ashtray.

Barmaid Rachel Wilson, 19, from Rodbourne, said: "It's really nice because we are not covered in smoke all the time.

"I used to smoke so it's good not to have the temptation there and it's nice to be able to breathe."

Wetherspoon's pubs are leading the way in getting rid of smoking in public places, and others organisations are following suit.

From the beginning of May, customers will no longer be permitted to smoke anywhere inside the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon.