Landlords have blamed weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy for customers calling time on the pub, with the blockbuster medications heaping yet more challenges on the trade.

Pub landlords, who for years have been battling rising costs, are now seeing customers on the GLP-1s opt for smaller items and even go out less often as a result.

Slimmers have been seen ordering from children’s menus and sharing bowls of soup amid a weight-loss drug booms as Scots look to shed the pounds.

Some 16 per cent of operators have said they believe weight-loss drugs are resulting in fewer visits and 22 per cent said they believe customers have become more discerning, a survey for the Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) found.

The industry body, which described the fat fighting drugs as ‘having a significant impact’, told of landlords’ concerns in its Summer On-Trade Market Insight Report.

Colin Wilkinson, the SLTA’s managing director, said: ‘Quite a lot of our members have been telling me that they’re noticing people having maybe just a main course and no starter or desert, and one has even had customers asking if they can order from the children’s menu.

‘There’s definitely a shift in customer behaviour and while we can’t say definitively that this trend is down to use of weight-loss drugs – it could also relate to cost-of-living pressures and people reining in their spending – many members believe that this medication is having an impact on their sales.’

Around 300,000 Scots are estimated to be using weight-loss drugs, with many shelling out hundreds of pounds each month to cut down their size because they are ineligible for NHS treatment.

The drugs work by mimicking a hormone which is released when people feel full, the GLP-1, creating the sense of fullness when eating less or not at all.

Landlords were grateful for a boost in trade from the World Cup, which saw Scotland compete in the tournament for the first time in decades, but there was no boost from the Commonwealth Games. And with wars in the Middle East and Ukraine pushing up prices, consumer confidence remains weak.

Mr Wilkinson said: ‘The World Cup provided a brief sales boost, but the broader economic outlook remains challenging.

‘A new trend has also emerged with 16 per cent of respondents saying visitors have declined because of the weight-loss drugs phenomenon.’

The Summer On-Trade Market Insight Report found that trading conditions remain challenging, with 58 per cent of outlets in decline.

All the outlets who took part in the survey also said they have had year-on-year cost rises, with 57 per cent facing increases ‘significantly above’ inflation.

Forecast trading for the remainder of the year is more positive than in the previous survey, though, with 61 per cent of outlets expecting growth and stability and a 9 per cent drop in outlets considering closing.