A BAR boss has blamed drunken yobs on Lothian Road for driving young professional customers away from his pub and forcing him out of business.

Colin Bell said the office workers who made up most of his regulars started drifting away after the introduction of the smoking ban last year.

They didn't mind having to smoke outside, he said, but were intimidated by loud and aggressive drunks in the area.

The 30-year-old, who ran The Office bar for four years, said he and his partner Joyce Carlin had lost £40,000 from the collapse of the business and were now working in bars to make ends meet.

He said: "I managed the bar for two years when it was Au Bar 2. When I took on the tenancy I wanted to do something a bit different and make it somewhere office workers on Lothian Road would want to be, rather than another place for a big night out.

"Although the inside of the bar was really safe and no problems, outside on a Saturday night could get a bit rough and ready, and there was quite a high level of violence. It intimidated the smokers who had to stand outside, but there was nowhere else for them to go."

He said his takings plummeted from around £17,000 a week during the peak of The Office's popularity, to just £3000 a week in January this year.

He added: "We have lost around £40,000. We paid out about £30,000 to refurbish it, so all of the furniture and so on was ours.

"The new owner paid about £20,000 for them as they were second-hand. We had a lot of other costs too. We can manage now, but we will never have the money again to start up our own business."

He said he enjoyed his current job behind the bar at the Orocco Pier hotel in South Queensferry, while Ms Carlin, 47, works at the Auld Hundred on Rose Street. However, he said they were disappointed they could no longer run their own business.

He added: "I am working as a bar tender, which is fine, but is very frustrating because I am not using the skills I have as a bar owner."

The Office has now been taken over by a new owner, G1 Leisure, which plans to give it an overhaul to make it more attractive to younger people on a big night out in the city centre.

Owner John Paul McKeown said: "We plan to relaunch the premises on June 2nd as Fresh, which will be a new venue more suited to the clientele who frequent Lothian Road, which is mainly young office workers.

"There is a steady business here just now. Lunchtimes for us are busy, and obviously weekends are too. Through the week at night can be quiet, but that is part of the nature of the business."

David Rintoul, chairman of Tollcross Community Council, said he was not surprised by what had happened at the bar.

"Inebriated people in Lothian Road do act in funny ways and tend to take the mickey out of people. A lot of the time it's not meant to be malicious, but it can make people feel uncomfortable," he said.

"I think the smoking ban has created some kinds of problems for pub owners.

"Because the pavements are reasonably narrow, it's not a place you want to stand.

"Lothian Road has such a bad name that people go to the Lyceum and Traverse and disappear when the show finishes because of the road's reputation."