Trade faces up to Equality Act
The trade is split over government plans to protect the gay community from discrimination in pubs.
The policy, due to come into force in October under the Equality Act, will ban discrimination on the grounds of sexuality by any retailer or service provider.
Pubs will be forced to accept homosexual customers, or face fines.
Tony Callaghan, managing director of Wigan-based Yesteryear Pub Company, which operates 30 pubs in the North West, said he was 100 per cent behind the plans.
"We're all the same undressed and pubs should welcome everyone," he said.
Mr Callaghan added that although most pubs were al-ready open to serving anyone, the government should be commended for pinpointing the remaining few "bad operators".
Dean Connolly, supervisor at the Admiral Duncan, the famous gay pub in London's Soho, said: "You wouldn't ask someone to leave because of their race so you shouldn't be allowed to do it based on their sexuality."
He added that reactions from the public could be mixed. "I don't want to generalise, but there are members of society who are set in their ways - they won't like it."
But some licensees claimed the policy was unnecessary.
Bill Sharp, licensee of the King's Arms in Borough, South London, said it was "typical of the government to complicate the issue".
"Its wading in means more red tape directed at the hospitality industry as usual," he added. "I've never heard of anyone failing to serve someone because they were gay."
A licensee at a high-profile London gay pub, who asked not to be named, agreed that another law was not the answer: "We're all the same and I think most people accept that now, so why another law? We've got enough of those."
The Department of Trade & Industry claimed that the plans would modernise British views.
Trade Secretary Alan Johnson said: "Too often, gay and lesbian people can face discrimination in their everyday lives.
"I want to make sure that no-one gets refused a room at a hotel or a table in a restaurant because of their sexuality."
