Adverts for alcohol as well as food high in fat, sugar and salt will be banned from all Southwark Council-owned hoardings and screens.

The move is hoped to encourage more families to cook more and make healthier meal choices, cabinet member for community safety and public health, Evelyn Akoto, said.

Almost 40 per cent of 10 to 11-year-olds in Southwark and 60 per cent of adults are overweight or obese.

Southwark also has amongst the highest alcohol related hospital admissions due to accident and injury, alcohol related disease and cause of deaths in England.

“It is difficult to deny the link between increased fast food advertising and childhood obesity. Greater exposure to the advertising of unhealthy foods has been shown to increase the consumption of these foods,” she said.

“I want to reduce unhealthy food advertising and at the same time encourage children and young people, families and carers to buy healthier options as well as cook more healthily.

“What I want to see is the promotion of healthier products rather than the advertising of sugary drinks and high fat, sugar and salty foods. As a borough with high rates of both child and adult obesity, I want to tackle this matter head-on by making the healthier choice the easier choice for everyone.”

Transport for London banned junk food advertising on the Underground, buses, Overground, Docklands Light Railway, taxi wraps and all TfL owned bus stops in February.

Lewisham Council banned all adverts for food or drink high in sugar, salt or fat, across all billboards, bus stops and phone boxes in the borough earlier this year.

Southwark Council owns five large hoarding sites in the borough as well as nineteen JC Decaux screens across its 11 square miles of territory where it makes £265,000 from advertising every year.