CHEAP drink deals at Blackpool nightclubs are contributing to town centre violence and under-age drinking, according to police.

Deals such as all inclusive, double your money or even triple your money nights, held weekly at some nightclubs in town, could lead to an increase in trouble as revellers drink more alcohol.

At all inclusive nights, clubbers pay a single entry fee and all drinks are free.

Double your money and triple your money nights allow people to pay an entrance fee and then drink double or triple the value of the entrance price.

Sgt Tony Bushell, licensing sergeant at Blackpool, said police believed these deals were contributing to violence and trouble in Blackpool.

"The encouragement is for people to drink a lot more for a lot less and as a result people are getting drunk and committing offences and getting involved in fights and causing damage.

"Normal, usually decent members of the public are going out drinking copious amounts and becoming involved in trouble.

"Even 'buy one get one free' deals are still promoting excess drinking," he said.

He said police want these cheap drink deals to stop: "It's an issue we are looking at at the moment. If they are properly managed it can be done but our experience is that it's very difficult to manage the places.

"It's actually an offence to serve alcohol to people who are drunk. But how drunk somebody is is a subjective matter and I don't know how staff are trained to deal with it. We've got lots of anecdotal and video evidence of the trouble the excess drinking causes," he said.

Sgt Bushell said the deals could also encourage under-age drinking: "Under-age people are being availed of these drinks.

"They might not have as much money as older members of the public and the fact that these drinks are cheap is allowing them to drink up to ten or eleven pints in a night.

"It's a cut-throat business. The clubs are obviously vying with each other to attract customers." he said.

Patrick Holden, entertainments manager at Club Heaven and Hell on Blackpool Prom, said that the club stopped running all inclusive nights at the beginning of December.

"We are 100 per cent behind the police. They are quite happy with us. We've stopped all inclusive nights, although other clubs are still running them," he said.

The club still holds double your money nights on Fridays.

The Waterfront, also on the Prom, runs double your money nights and triple your money nights, and The Palace, on Central Prom, runs double your money and all inclusive nights.

A spokesperson from the Waterfront said: "We have met with the police at all levels and co-operate with them every way we can.

"We do not believe in or encourage binge drinking and to date the police have not spoken to us about any promotional event.

"We will liaise with police to remove their concerns if they have any. Our endeavour is to give a friendly atmosphere and a safe environment."