A pub chain is pressing ahead with controversial plans to name a new outlet after a famous anti-drink campaigner.

Wetherspoon's sparked outrage last year when it revealed it wanted to call the new pub in Bradford's former Windsor Baths the Sir Titus Salt.

The Victorian mill owner banned pubs when he built Saltaire as a model village for his workers.

But Wetherspoon's, based in Watford, is adamant that the Sir Titus Salt remains scheduled to open on February 29.

The choice of name has been condemned by Councillor Phil Thornton (Lab, Shipley East), chairman of the Saltaire Project, Shipley's Labour MP Chris Leslie and local licensees.

But Wetherspoon's spokesman Eddie Gershon said he had received letters from people in Bradford supporting the idea of naming the pub after Sir Titus.

"There was a lot of brouhaha but we are sticking to the name," he said. "We actually got quite a few letters saying that far from being a teetotaller he liked a swift half."

Sir Titus Salt was chosen ahead of other famous Bradfordians including David Hockney, Frederick Delius and Sir William Forster, even though he declared that drink and lust were the root of crime.

The new pub is the third to be created in the former Windsor Baths building, which was closed as a swimming pool in the 1970s before re-opening briefly 20 years later as the headquarters of Bradford Festival.

Workmen have now moved onto the site, which will be sandwiched between the Varsity Bar and Freestyle and Firkin.

It will be the latest of a plethora of pubs and bars which have opened in the West End area of Bradford behind the Alhambra Theatre. Others include the Hogshead and Chicago Rock Caf.

Wetherspoon's plans to open 90 pubs across the country during 2000. It has also bought Foxy's nightclub in Bradford Road, Cleckheaton, and has submitted a planning application to convert the old Waremart building in Main Street, Bingley.

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