From 1 December 2025, commuters and schoolchildren travelling on the Tyne & Wear Metro will no longer be bombarded by adverts for burgers, sweets or fizzy drinks.
North East Mayor Kim McGuinness is the first mayor outside of London to officially enforce a ban on junk food advertising across the Metro network, following celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s AdEnough campaign last year.
The campaign encouraged leaders to tackle the harmful impact of junk food marketing on children and young people.
Nine UK mayors — including those from Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, and across Yorkshire — have pledged to ban junk food marketing on certain forms of public transport, and further announcements from other regions are expected in the coming months.
“Every day, thousands of young people travel on our Metro network for school and with their friends – I want parents to know their children will be protected from adverts for burgers, sweets and fizzy drinks. This is us sending a clear message to junk food companies – enough is enough,” said Kim McGuinness.
“The days of targeting children and young people with predatory adverts for food and drinks that harm their health are over. This is about giving our young people the best chance to grow up healthy and make positive choices about what they eat and drink.”
Helen Mathews, commercial director at Nexus, added: “We’re pleased to support the Mayor with this important initiative to help protect children’s health.
“We have a large advertising estate on Metro across our 60 stations and on our fleet of trains. We see a wide range of brands booking this advertising space. By allowing only healthier food and drink to be advertised across our system we can play our part in making our region healthier.”
The move also lines up neatly with upcoming government legislation banning junk food ads on TV before the watershed from January 2026, as the nation tries to swap pasties and fizzy drinks for healthier options.
The restrictions will apply to foods classified as ‘less healthy’ under government guidance, including products high in fat, salt, or sugar. The ban will
The ban will cover advertising on infrastructure owned and operated by Nexus, including the Metro network’s stations and trains, the Shields Ferry and selected billboard sites alongside Metro lines. Small independent businesses, such as local restaurants and station tenants, will not be affected.
For Mayor McGuinness, the policy is more than just a diet plan for the Metro, it’s a key manifesto pledge and part of a wider push to tackle health inequalities across the region.
