SMOKERS trying to give up the dreaded weed got a little extra help in their bid -- from a hypnotist.

A group of smokers turned to hypnotherapy to try and quit and turned up at a pub to all be put under the spell together.

Among them was Neil Kenyon 30, of Park Road, Great Harwood, who has been smoking about 20 cigarettes a day for the last 11 years and was one of 11 people who took part in the session at the pub.

Neil, who has tried quitting the habit before after a stage hypnotherapy session, said: "I'm just fed up of being a slave to it. I hate being reliant on them all the time.

"I worked out that if I stopped I could save about £1,100 a year so I'd like to put it towards an extra holiday to the states.

"I felt really relaxed after the session. I didn't feel as though I was being hypnotised because I could still hear everything that was going on around me."

Shirley Tattersall, 33, of Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors, smokes up to 15 cigarettes a day and said she wanted to quit to be healthier. Shirley, said: "I tend to smoke more at night than I do in the day but I just want to feel healthier. The cost of it doesn't really bother me."

Ian Howarth, 41, of West Wood Street, Accrington, was too ashamed to say how many cigarettes he smoked but said it was "far too many."

"I've never used any gimmicks to try and give up before even though I've tried to do it for myself a few times.

"I'd like this to work but I don't think it will."

Julie McGinty, 32, of Westwood Road, Burnley, has been smoking about 20 a day for the last seven years and said she was quietly confident the therapy would work.

She said: "At the moment I don't feel as though I need a cigarette which is quite surprising because normally if I've been in a meeting I go out of the room and light up.

"I've tried using one of those puffer inhalers before but I used to walk round with it like it was a pen in my mouth."

Hypnotist Lee Carlin, who gave up smoking after he was hypnotised about four years ago, said he was disappointed about the low turn-out after expecting a 50-strong crowd at the Inn on the Wharf at Burnley last night but was happy everyone who attended would be able to kick the habit.