The subject of drinking and its effects always divides opinion.

After a friend from Australia visited recently (having lived in Brighton ten years ago) and told me how he thought Brighton had changed after dark, I wanted to write to The Argus.

It’s always been a lively, clubby city, particularly at the weekend and I personally remember times where I have waited for a taxi in the “little Beirut” area of Western Road with bottles flying through the air.

However, in the past ten years, I have noticed the difference in the night life myself and choose not to venture into the centre of Brighton after dark any more.

My friend had to walk from Hove to the city centre hotel he was staying in on a Saturday night and came across hen party after hen party and stag party after stag party with people in the road disrupting traffic, throwing blow-up dolls and other paraphernalia about, shouting, swearing and urinating.

He said he felt intimidated from my flat to the hotel entrance and he is no shrinking violet.

Ten years ago there was the odd hen party you would come across and, of course, the drunkenness.

But ten years on it seems much worse. I believe it’s now out of control and the 24-hour drinking culture and cheap booze must take much of the blame for this happening.

The Argus this year has printed stories about the nuisance of “party houses”, but alcohol seems to have taken hold in the local economy to the extent that it is now the number one importance, which I believe is to the detriment of the city overall.

I am sure that my friend is not the only one to visit Brighton and go home with the wrong assumptions about a place that I love.

Central Government has a part to play in managing the alcohol dependency culture that we currently have but the local administration, with police involvement, should be considering tougher sanctions to tackle the issues that binge drinking creates on our streets at night.

Jonathan Armitt, Norton Road, Hove