DRINKERS and landlords in Hampshire have given a mixed response to news that smoking will be barred in pubs and clubs next summer.

Yesterday, the government announced that lighting-up will be outlawed in all enclosed public spaces and workplaces seven months from today.

From 6am on July 1, offices, factories, shops, pubs, bars, restaurants, members only clubs, public transport and work vehicles used by more than one person will become smoke free zones.

The law will also mean that indoor smoking rooms will no longer be allowed. So anyone wishing to smoke at work will have to go outside instead.

Owner of the Orange Rooms club in Vernon Walk Southampton Danny Foss told the Daily Echo he agreed with the total ban - even though he believed it would damage his trade.

He said: "Without a doubt, it will affect my trade but I am still all in favour of it. However, I think it will affect the local boozer rather than the Orange Rooms. We are more of a style bar. People come to these venues to see and be seen. People who go to your local pub may well prefer to sit at home where they can smoke. It will affect us, but we are prepared to take it."

However, landlady of the Anchor Hotel in Test Lane Maxine Winkworth said that she thought the ban would seriously affect her trade and might even force her to close.

She said: "It will affect my business. This is a drinking pub. Do I think it will force me to shut? I will answer that next summer. If I am not still here, you will know it will have finished us off.

Non smoker "I am a non smoker, but I still think it is serious. Smokers want to have a cigarette with their drinks. As a business person, I think it is bad news."

The government is launching a "shop a smoker'' complaints hotline next summer to encourage people to report any infringements of the new law.

Smokers lighting up in pubs and restaurants will be fined £50 for a first offence or £200 if it goes to court. Owners of licensed premises will face a maximum fine of £2,500.

Statistics show that up to £56m a year is spent treating Hampshire people suffering from illnesses linked to smoking. Department of Health figures released two years ago revealed how smoking was responsible for one in three deaths in the city.

Latest figures show that around 35 per cent of the city's adult population still smoke with a total of 375,000 smokers in Hampshire as a whole.

Health secretary Patricia Hewitt said she hoped the measure, contained in the Health Act 2006, would help smokers quit the habit.

She said: "This is a triumph for public health and a huge step forward for health protection. Thousands of people's lives will be saved and the health of thousands more protected.'' TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "The UK's pubs, bars and restaurants will become healthier places to work overnight, and in the longer term, fewer workers will fall ill or die as a result of second-hand smoke."