Winchester MP Steve Brine recently visited the newly refurbished Exchange pub and disposable vapes were among the subjects discussed.

The well-known Southgate Street venue, which has undergone a £400,000 overhaul, invited the MP to meet new manager Olly Mattinson. 

Olly and his partner Liam recently moved to Winchester from Preston where they were running another pub.

As well as discussing new night-time parking charges in the city, and changes to taxi rank arrangements at the station, Mr Brine heard about the problem of disposable vapes which are currently cleared up and thrown away at closing time each day.

READ MORE: Winchester pub the Exchange to re-open after near £400,000 make-over

Mr Brine said: “It was really good to meet Olly and his team and welcome them to Winchester. I think they’ll do really well here.

“The refurbishment at the Exchange is significant and it looks good. I was really interested to discuss the rising issue of disposable vapes and will be working to help this, and actually all venues in our area, with a workable option whereby they can recycle those cleared up at the end of every night.

“I was also keen to flag the issue of vape spiking which is not at all well known at present but is on the rise and something we need to nip in the bud. I’ll be working in Parliament, and through the Health Select Committee, to flag this potentially serious issue to ministers.”

Mr Mattinson said: "It was a pleasure to meet Steve and discuss issues important to us and other local businesses.

"Liam and I are very happy to be back in Winchester, where I went to school many moons ago, and we look forward to working with Steve and others to make a positive impact on the local community."