Reports have been leaked that the government may ban outdoor smoking at pubs, and one pub is concerned about what it may mean for the city.

According to The Sun, smokers may face a ban on using cigarettes in pub gardens, restaurant terraces, near sports stadiums, pavements near universities and hospitals, and shisha bars.

Mikey Beckingham runs the Anchor and Hope alongside his partner, landlord Reece Brown, and he thinks that the ban would have an “adverse effect” on all hospitality businesses.

He said: “I think it’s going to affect a lot of pubs. If they’re going to put a ban on smoking, custom is going to go.

“We have a smoking area out the back until 11pm, then when we have to shut it due to licencing, we have smokers out the front.

“It’s so much harder to control people taking glasses in and out if they can’t smoke nearby.”

READ MORE: What is the Government’s smoking ban plan?

The Anchor and Hope, on Winchester Street, has a popular back garden, with vibrant picnic tables under covers and in the open for people to enjoy rain or shine. The pub hosts events which take place inside and outside, as well as day-to-day trading from the bar.

As well as the concern over controlling their own business, Mikey is worried that the Market Square will become the place for people to go when they want to smoke.

Anchor & Hope in SalisburyAnchor & Hope in Salisbury (Image: Google Maps) He said: “People come to have a cigarette, enjoy the sun – but people will end up in the Market Square smoking everywhere – it will be a huge amount of litter and more pollution of one area.

“If you’re not allowed to smoke in any gardens, people will congregate in another place.”

READ MORE: Oliver Bonas withdraws Salisbury planning application

When asked about smoking on Thursday, August 29, Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters he would “take decisions in this space” and warned that smoking kills more than 80,000 each year.

Mikey told the Journal: “It’s going to have a very adverse effect on all hospitality businesses. It’s down to their health if someone wants to smoke.

“We don’t have any problems with people smoking. It’s down to the individual – not down to the government. It’s the Government dictating what people can and can’t do.”

Policies have not yet been confirmed, and Starmer has said that “more details will be revealed".