An attacker was less than an inch away from blinding a policeman in a seafront brawl.

PC Paul Grzegorzek was hit with a full bottle of lager, which smashed and left glass fragments in his face.

PC Grzegorzek, 27, said: "I was very lucky not to lose the eye."

Sussex Police said the incident was rare but it reinforced their campaign to crack down on booze-related crime in the city.

The incident led to three bars on the Palace Pier being closed on Saturday night and the arrest of six men.

Still suffering concussion yesterday, the Brighton officer told how he was attacked as he went to break up a fight on the pier.

He said: "I was at the sea end of the pier when I heard of a fight going on in Horatio's bar.

"About 20 men were fighting and security were doing their best to control the situation but there were just too many of them.

"One man was grabbing another man round the throat and I managed to split them up.

"I got six of them outside and calmed them down then I went back.

"I saw a man being bottled and when I went to arrest the offender he swung and hit me with the bottle."

PC Grzegorzek, dazed, bleeding and buckling at the knees, forced himself to stay conscious.

He pepper-sprayed the offender, who had been drinking, and radioed for back-up.

"My colleagues were fantastic. They ran the length of the pier in no time."

Six men, all from London, were arrested and later released on bail pending further inquiries.

Hospital staff removed glass fragments from the officer's wound.

Sue Heard, spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove police, said: "This type of incident is rare but this was one too many."

The division has launched a campaign to tackle alcohol-fuelled offences and anti-social behaviour.

More than 200 people have been stopped and had alcohol poured down the drain for under-age drinking or breaking a street-drinking ban in the first two weeks of the blitz.