UK - Shops ban drink to suspect louts

[chillinwill]

Shopkeepers in a Cornish town are refusing to sell alcohol to anyone who looks like they may cause trouble.

All seven shops which sell alcohol in Camborne have joined a 13-week scheme aimed at reducing binge drinking.

Officers said drunkenness and fighting was reduced in a six-week trial over Christmas.

They were called out to drink-related anti-social behaviour just three times, compared with 18 over the same period the year before.

Pc Ben Charity from Devon and Cornwall Police said: "Evidence of the trial showed that it worked very well.

"But it was just a trial over Christmas and we picked a fairly quiet time because we didn't know how it would work.

"So we can't get too excited about it.

"We need to see how this longer period goes."

He said that the policy could work anywhere in the UK with a sense of community.

"You just get a sense of whether someone's a dodgy individual and whether they'll bring the town or village down."

Rachel Letcher, of Treswithian Stores, said: "You've got to use your instinct.

"Because we are quite a small town we get to know who could be drunk."

She had never had any problems with turning people away, most of whom had been young boys.

"They just turn round and huff and walk out."

Wednesday June 3, 2009
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...ll/8080486.stm