A MAN has appeared in court charged with having an imitation firearm in a city casino.

Barry Witherspoon is alleged to have had an air rifle at the Grosvenor Casino on Glasgow's Glassford Street on Tuesday January 21.

He is charged with having the item with him in a public place "without lawful authority or reasonable excuse".

The 40-year-old from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court from custody where he pled not guilty to the charge.

A trial date was set for August this year and Witherspoon was released on bail with the special condition that he doesn't enter the casino.