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ALTHOUGH plans to turn the pub into an embassy to escape the smoking ban have gone up in smoke, there are still plenty of reasons to visit this charming Southampton pub.

The Wellington Arms in Freemantle hit the headlines last month after becoming a consulate to a tiny uninhabited Caribbean island called Redonda.

An audacious idea to upgrade it to an embassy making it the only pub in Britain where smoking was legal has since been thwarted by the Government and smokers are now banished to the beer garden.

But the recently knighted landlord Sir Bob Beech boasts that its collection of seven bitters and six lagers on pump is enough to keep the punters happy.

Apart from the flag of Redonda hanging above the bar and a clock notifying regulars of the time on the distant island, another curious feature of the pub is the collection of flattened coins stuck to the bar.

Sir Bob, who has been landlord of the pub since 2004, said: "The story behind the coins is that they were originally on the bar at the Duke of Wellington in Bugle Street. The landlord had an argument with the brewery and left but decided to bring the bar with him to this pub in the 1970s. I don't know how true that is but it's a well-recited rumour among regulars.

"The main pulling point of the bar is the selection of beers and bitter on tap. It's a great back street local. Where else would you go to find this ambience? It's got character to it."

But it's not all bad news for the pub's smokers as Bob has given the go ahead for a large shelter to be installed in the pub garden to accommodate the smoking fraternity'.

Landlord Bob Beech

Bob, a non-smoker, added: "We are breaking down a wall in the back garden to put a cover up with heaters in the next few weeks".

Among the regulars in the pub is the Cardinal of Redonda, Edward Elder, who knighted Bob and turned the premises into a consulate on behalf of the King of Redonda last month.

The pub on Park road was known as the Swan Inn until December 1975 and dates back to the early 1860s when a Miss Belford was the landlady.

The Wellington Arms, 56 Park Road, Freemantle. Tel 023 8022 0356

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