ANDY Marcer is fuming that people are stealing cigarette butts from outside his Old Town pub.

The landlord of the Beehive in Prospect Hill would be much happier if the thieves rolled up in person to collect the ends.

Andy, 48, has had to repair two metal boxes attached to the pub walls several times after late-night break-ins by the phantom butt thieves.

"They must be pretty desperate to want to steal cigarette butts from a bin, they would be filthy in there," he said.

"I can't imagine what they get from it and it's a bit of a pain for me."

The first incident happen-ed about six weeks ago in the early hours of the morning.

"I live above the pub and had gone to bed. It was a member of staff having a late drink who saw what happened. Apparently they just levered open the bottom of the box where the lock is and brushed out the contents.

"They were seen but they ran off and there was little point in chasing them."

Since then there have been more break-ins, always after closing time.

"It seems to happen after 1am. Certainly it's when everyone has gone home."

The locks on the boxes have not been permanently broken but the lids now wobble. This makes Andy think that the summer thefts are the tip of the iceberg.

"If they have done it a couple of times and it has worked I don't see why they would stop," he said.

"To be perfectly honest I would be happier if they just came in and asked for the keys.

"They would be welcome to go and collect the ends themselves because it saves us cleaning out the boxes.

"But I doubt they will walk in here and ask directly."

While Andy would prefer to be pulling pints than cleaning bins, he has decided against calling the police to smoke out the offenders.

That is partly because he thinks they won't be caught, but also because of the minor nature of the crime.

He said: "I really can't see them doing anything about it - they're not taking anything of any value.

"I just hope news filters out that this is going on so people will look out for them."

Ultimately, Andy thinks that the prices of cigarettes will continue to force people to hunt around for tobacco.

He said: "Cigarette prices have been jumping up for several years and that must put a squeeze on smokers.

"It seems most likely that these people are emptying the stubs and making roll-ups from the left over tobacco.

"In the circumstances they probably think this is the best way around it.

"But the quality of what they get from the bins must be rubbish, so I wish they would stub it out."