A NEW guide is highlighting the growing number of city businesses that have banned smoking.

Sunderland City Council has produced its fourth Smoke Free Air Guide, which lists 150 pubs, cafes, restaurants and other businesses that either ban smoking or only allow it in certain areas.

Twenty more organisations are in the guide this year, which has delighted the council and health officials.

Smoking-related illnesses kill 630 Sunderland people each year and many more people suffer chronic problems.

At the launch of the guide on Tuesday, the companies were presented with gold, silver and bronze awards for their efforts.

Totally smoke-free premises receive the gold award, those with smoke-free areas silver while bronze is given to those that restrict the times when customers can light up.

Dr Judy Thomas, Sunderland's director of public health, said: "Smoking is the biggest cause of preventable death in Sunderland, as in the rest of the UK.

"The rates for smoking and smoking-related diseases and deaths are high in Sunderland compared with the rest of England."

Council environmental health officer Norma Johnston said: "The Smoke Free Air Guide has really taken off since we launched it four years ago and we're delighted with its increasing popularity.

"More and more cafes, pubs and restaurants are either banning smoking altogether or else offering smoke-free areas.

"This guide is designed to help people who don't want their health affected or who simply do not want to be irritated by other people's smoke."

The guide is available from Sunderland Civic Centre, the Tourist Information Centre, libraries, leisure centres, doctors' and dentists' surgeries, hospitals and the Answers health shop in Holmeside.