PUB group Punch Taverns has pledged to invest a further £6m in North-East pubs this year after spending £5m over the past financial year to fund refurbishments at 64 pubs.

The company, which owns 529 pubs in the North-East and Cumbria, acquired a further 11 freehold pubs in the area in the past financial year, costing £9.8m.

Regional operations director Chris Welham said one pub which had just been reopened following a £200,000 refurbishment was the Otter and Fish, in Hurworth, near Darlington.

And more than £340,000 was to be spent upgrading Visions, in Billingham, which has been closed for some time.

The Slaters Arms, in Darlington, also reopened recently following a £145,000 revamp.

He said almost £10m was spent last year on 11 pubs in the North-East, and Punch expected to spend a further £5m on eight or nine pubs in the region this year - the first of which, the Stables in Wynyard, has already been acquired.

The company posted a rise in pre-tax profits yesterday of 21 per cent to £250m.

Punch said yesterday that the new financial year had started well and it was well prepared for the smoking ban in England and Wales, due to come in next summer.

Mr Welham said many of the refurbishments in the North-East included outside areas in preparation for the smoking ban.

Punch chief executive Giles Thorley said yesterday: "Since the ban in Scotland was introduced, overall sales have been little changed, and while we remain cautious on the initial impact until a full year has elapsed, we are confident that overall quality of trading will ultimately improve.

''The introduction of outside smoking areas and better pub amenities, often including quality food, can not only negate the impact of the ban, but create new trading opportunities."

Mr Thorley also said the change in licensing laws which brought in extended opening hours "had little impact on overall trading" but reduced problems at closing time.