WINCHESTER police are resurrecting ground-breaking attempts to cut down on alcohol abuse in public areas.

They aim to set up an off-licence equivalent to the successful Pubwatch scheme which has been successful in cutting rowdyism.

Drinkers who misbehave in one pub run the risk of being barred from all in the city centre. Now the police want to set up Offwatch.

Inspector Mark Bradford said he wanted to tackle under-age drinking and public drunkenness: "We will be contacting off-licences with a view to starting an Offwatch scheme along the same lines as Pubwatch. We want to get off-licences talking to each other and coming up with some common answers."

In 1995 the police persuaded off-licences to remove their strongest beers and lagers from the shelves to deter the hardened drinkers.

There was national publicity but the scheme fell through because the off-licences were losing too much money.

Insp Bradford said the police had recently issued warnings to two off-licences that had been selling to peo-ple under the age of 18 years. He declined to say which premises were involved.

"The vast majority of licensees are very responsible. We are seeking to support them. A small minority are selling to people they should not be selling to."

He warned the police would not hesitate to get tough. "Having warned off-licences, if we find them continuing to do it we will have no hesitation in prosecuting them and seeking a revocation of their licence."

In some cases youngsters were barred from buying alcohol but were persuading adults to buy it on their behalf. "We would ask responsible adults not to do that," said Insp Bradford.

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