Drinkers in Brighton and Hove may be forced to clean up mess they make in the streets.

Revellers caught urinating in public could be handed buckets and brooms or water spray equipment.

Sussex police said they were "watching closely" methods used by other forces.

Chief Superintendent Paul Curtis, Brighton and Hove police commander, said: "It is a problem from time to time in the city and making offenders clean up their mess is a good idea.

"We will be watching these pilot projects and may consider adopting the same policy in the future."

Bobbies handing out buckets of water to offenders in North Wales have been applauded in the street by passing members of the public.

North Wales chief constable Richard Brunstrom, a former Sussex officer, said the crackdown in Wrexham had proved "hugely popular".

People who foul the footpaths were given a choice to clean-up or face being arrested.

Mr Brunstrom said: "We're literally getting clapped by people in the streets because at last someone is doing something about it.

"The message to club and pub-goers is if they take the humiliation they won't get arrested."

In the three weeks it has been operating 52 people, some of them women, were given the choice and only three refused.

The same clean-up crackdown has been introduced in Guildford, Surrey, as part of an anti-social-behaviour initiative.

The Clean Streets campaign involves the use of a specially-designed water bus, a vehicle carrying cleaning equipment, with a water bowser attached.

Five men caught urinating on the first night of the scheme all complied with the request to clean up.

Offenders also received a yellow-card warning about their behaviour. The same cards are used to reprimand people caught swearing or dropping litter.

Offenders also receive a letter warning that if their poor behaviour continued they could be made the subject of anti-social behaviour orders, banning them from the town centre.

Inspector Dave Kelley, leading the initiative, said: "Urinating in public shows a complete lack of regard for public decency and is just one of the many forms of anti-social behaviour we are committed to stamping out in the town centre."