Smelly British pubs

Artificial scents are set to be pumped into British pubs to mask the smell of stale beer, sweat and other odours previously camouflaged by cigarette smoke, The Sunday Times reported.

Mitchells and Butlers, which runs about 2,000 pubs across Britain, is testing leather, freshly cut grass and ocean breeze fragrance in its premises since a ban on smoking in enclosed public space began in England on July 1.

"Appetising food smells have increased but others are less attractive, such as stale food and beer, damp, sweat and body odour, drains and -- how do you put this nicely? -- flatulence," Oliver Devine was quoted as saying.

Devine, senior marketing manager at M and B offshoot the Sizzling Pub Company, added: "We are considering trialling the smell of leather, which suggests luxury and indulgence and cut grass, which is clean and domestic."

The newspaper said an "ozonic" fragrance mimicking the smell of sea breeze has been tried out in four M and B pubs in Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, where a similar was introduced in March 2006.

A nightclub chain has already started pumping scent onto dancefloors, which are also covered by the ban.