Wetherspoons pubs ban playing music or taking calls on phone speakers

Chain tells customers to ‘pipe down’ and use earphones instead, calling its venues ‘an oasis of tranquillity’

The pub chain Wetherspoons has banned customers from playing music or taking calls on speaker after growing complaints about the noise.

The company announced it had introduced the ban across its 792 pubs, saying sounds from smartphones and tablet computers had become an “increasing problem in recent years”.