Pub group Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) is to scrap two-for-one drinks promotions and "happy hours" in a bid to head off public disquiet over binge drinking.

The company's public affairs director, Simon Ward, said: "We haven't operated a 60-minute happy-hour promotion anywhere in the estate for three or four years.

"We have been running time-limited promotions that run for a minimum of two hours, but only in 1-2% of our pubs.

"We're now upping the ante to make that three hours."

M&B is also cutting back on promotions such as two-for-one offers and deals where customers buy two glasses of wine and get the rest of the bottle free.

Ward said: "We're trying to be responsive to what we suspect is significant public disquiet about bad behaviour, anti-social behaviour on certain nights of the week on certain high streets.

"We certainly believe the licensed trade has a role to play. We're trying to clean up our act as much as possible."

M&B has more than 2,000 outlets, including the chains All Bar One. O'Neill's and Scream.

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