Black Country streets of drink shame are revealed by police

At a time of unprecedented cuts to policing, officers have had to spend hundreds of hours dealing with crimes caused by people who are drunk.

Figures obtained by the Express & Star reveal that in 2011 and 2012, there were 5,279 drunk and disorderly arrests across the West Midlands, meaning that police are having to deal with up to 50 alcohol-fuelled arrests a week.

In the Black Country alone, there were almost 1,800 offences during that period.

And among the thousands of arrests made, as many as 250 were of youths under the age of 18.

Police say people are choosing to "load-up" on alcohol before going out, often ending up drunk before they get into town and city centres.

The figures show that Bridge Street in Walsall, which houses a number of pubs and bars, was by far the worst street for alcohol-related arrests, with 84 taking place in 2011 and 45 last year.

In Wolverhampton, Market Street and Queen Street featured at the top of the list for arrests.

Ministers have proposed a minimum price of 45p a unit for the sale of alcohol in England and Wales as part of a drive to tackle problem drinking.

It would mean a can of strong lager could not be sold for less than £1.56 and a bottle of wine below £4.22.

Superintendent Claire Bell, West Midland Police's lead officer for alchol-related crime, said the force supported the proposals.

West Midlands Police is currently facing £126 million of cuts and the pressures caused by alcohol mean that officers are having to spend time dealing with incidents that could be avoided.

Supt Bell said: "Evidence shows that a minimum pricing per unit system does lead to less alcohol consumption, less victims and less disorder. We do support that and a ban on multi-buy offers as well.

"In an ideal world, everyone would drink responsibly and we would not need to police this to the same degree we do currently."

She said people who "pre-load" were twice as likely to be involved in violence, either as a victim or perpetrator.

She added: "The cafe culture of Europe hasn't quite happened here. Ultimately it would be our wish for people to enjoy alcohol and be responsible with it."

Emma Reynolds, the MP for Wolverhampton North East MP, today said the centre of the city was being "dominated" by a heavy drinking culture and that it was a problem that needed to be tackled.

"I'd like the night-time economy in the city to be more divergent. I'd like to see more people going to restaurants than pubs," she said. "I certainly support any efforts to make sure that those who run licensed premises are not promoting silly offers on alcohol.