Brighton off-licences have been criticised for selling the equivalent of a week’s recommended intake of alcohol in one bottle for less than £5.

Shops in the city are being asked to voluntarily take down high-strength alcohol from their shelves because of the physical damage caused to buyers and the anti-social behaviour that results from drinking it.

Jean Irving, head of licensing at Sussex Police, said she was shocked by the amount of high-strength alcohol on sale during a planned operation last weekend.

More

She said that in some shops around the Preston Street area of Brighton the most common item in store were three litre bottles of 7.5% Frosty Jacks white cider.

The bottles contain more than 22 units of alcohol – more than the recommended weekly intake for a man.

Ms Irving said shop owners also admitted the super-strength cider was sold mainly to homeless people.

Brighton and Hove City Council and Sussex Police are currently working on a voluntary scheme where stores agree not to sell high-strength.

However, many store owners told licensing officers that they would agree to a self-imposed ban on high-strength alcohol only if their competitors agreed to stop selling as well.

Ms Irving said: “There is medical evidence about the effect this high-strength alcohol has on how drunk people are.

“You might have your normal placid drunk but if they have been drinking the high-strength stuff, they are so much more likely to become aggressive.

“21 units in a bottle is crazy, that’s the regular weekly allowance for a male in a week.”

A similar voluntary ban on high-strength alcohol in Ipswich launched last year has been credited in reducing anti-social behaviour by almost a half.

Ms Irving said: “We’re probably still a little way |off from reaching an agreement.

“We have got to get the management on board but an awful lot of people are saying we will stop selling it if the other shops stop selling it too.

“This is part of the problem. Even in Ipswich it is only about 50%.

“But if we get, say, 80% of premises signed up then we can focus our operations on the remaining premises and impose a condition stopping the sale of high-strength alcohol.”