PUBS could stop selling food if the Government presses ahead with proposals for a smoking ban in England, a leading UK operator warned.

Mitchells and Butlers, which owns brands including All Bar One and O'Neills, said the proposals could lead to pubs opening all areas to smokers if it made commercial sense.

This would run counter to the aims of the Government, which recommended a smoking ban in all workplaces and areas serving food in an effort to improve the nation's health. Mitchells pledged to co-operate with the Government on the White Paper and would push for clearly segregated smoking and non-smoking rooms within pubs.

Chief executive Tim Clarke said: "The enforced specialisation between food and smoking risks commercially incentivising more pubs than the White Paper currently anticipates, to remove food and retaining smoking throughout, other than at the bar."

The choice facing pubs groups was underlined by the fact that food represented 30 per cent of sales at Mitchells and Butler during the past financial year, rising from only 11 per cent a decade ago.

Mitchells' estate of about 2,000 pubs includes suburban-based brands such as Ember Inns, Vintage, Harvester and Toby carveries.

Like-for-like sales rose 5.6 per cent in the year to September 25, benefiting from higher food and drink volumes and cuts in average prices of two per cent.

Annual profits were £184m, 7.5 per cent lower than a year ago.