A MICROPUB landlord has raised concerns about a cancer charity's drive to stop people drinking next month.

Chris Hankins, owner of the Bull Baiters Inn, in St John's, Worcester, said Macmillan's Go Sober for October campaign is damaging his business.

However, Macmillan insisted that it was not trying to stop people from visiting drinking dens, arguing that people can still enjoy non-alcoholic beverages at pubs.

Mr Hankins, aged 66, who is in remission for leukaemia, said: "A lot of my regulars stopped drinking for it last year.

"It's two months a year as you have [Alcohol Concern's] Dry January as well.

"If everyone signed up to it every pub would be empty for two months a year, think of all the jobs we would lose.

"Can you think of any other industry that gets slammed for two months of the year? You don't stop using Sainsbury's for two months.

"Pubs are struggling so much anyway. It adds to the problems."

Mr Hankins, of Malvern Road, Worcester, also took umbrage with the campaign's depiction of non-drinkers as heroes.

The landlord said: "Calling them heroes for not drinking is ridiculous. You are deriding the real heroes we have out there.

"Stopping drinking is not heroic by any stretch of the imagination."

As an alternative to the Go Sober campaign, Mr Hankins has decided to donate money to Leukaemia UK whenever he sells a drink.

He also plans to put a donation box on the bar.

The landlord defended the role of pubs in the community and emphasised the need to protect them.

He said alcoholics tend to buy their booze at the supermarket, whereas his pub promotes responsible drinking and does not serve anyone who is drunk.

Kirsty Hobbs, fundraising marketing manager for Macmillan, said: “Go Sober for October is a fundraising challenge which asks social drinkers to go without alcohol for 31 days in return for sponsorship, rather than a long-term health initiative that encourages people to drink less for health reasons.

"The initiative doesn’t mean that people have to stop their normal social routines, which may or may not include going to the pub, and they can of course still purchase food and non-alcoholic beverages."

The campaign raised over £5million last year.

The Bull Baiters Inn opened just over two years ago and sells local real ales.