It's Men's Health Week and an innovative Southampton project is encouraging males to take more care of themselves. KATE THOMPSON found out more...!

"I'LL HAVE a pint of lager, a packet of cheese and onion crisps - oh, and can I have my blood pressure checked too?"

This may not be the sort of order you are used to hearing at your local pub but at two Southampton hostelries that's exactly what you will hear as men book in for a health check-up while having a swift pint.

The community health project is running for three months at the Hinkler pub on the Thornhill estate and at the nearby Bitterne pub in Bitterne Road.

Men are notoriously bad at looking after their health so the project workers decided that if men won't come to the doctor's surgery, they would take the surgery to the place where men traditionally feel more comfortable - the local pub.

Two nurses are on hand to discuss all manner of health worries that men may have and to advise them what they should do next.

"Men don't go to health services and when they do eventually go they tend to leave it very late. We want to encourage them that it is OK to go to your doctor," said health promotion expert Simon Bryant.

The scheme comes in the wake of the death of Darren Mountford, a father of two who died from cancer at the age of 27. The charismatic lorry driver touched the hearts of thousands of Daily Echo readers by penning a diary telling of his battle against liver cancer. His widow, Kerrie, has given her backing to the project which has been funded for three months from the £49m New Deal for Communities fund that is set to transform Thornhill.

"Darren was quite well known on the estate and he and his wife were keen that we should start an initiative like this," said Simon.

The men have been able to find out more about the effects of alcohol and smoking, which are both major issues.

They can test the carbon monoxide levels in their lungs from smoking and discover more about sexual health problems.

"Drinking is a major issue. The recommended level of units for a man to drink in a week is 21 and the men we have seen tell us they are drinking about 100 units a week - one even admitted to 170 units a week.

"We are not here to wag our fingers at them but we are here to give them the information they want," he said.

The scheme is a pilot and it may continue on the estate and could be developed in the Outer Shirley/ Millbrook area, where there is regeneration funding, and possibly even be developed for dockers at the city's port.

"By running this from a pub we have to see if we are only reaching the regulars or whether others come along because they know we are there. We will be able to gauge that when this pilot scheme is complete," added Simon.

See the Life section in today's Daily Echo for more details of Men's Health Week.