THE drinks industry must take its share of the blame for the anti-social behaviour that has blighted town centres, Don James, the chairman of the Devizes branch of the real ale campaigning group, CAMRA, has said.

Mr Jones, who is also a town councillor, said the introduction of alcopops and the accent on drinking large quantities of relatively strong lager had turned pubs from community centres to venues for binge drinking and profit maximisation.

He said: "I learned to drink in adult company and the thought of pubs dedicated to 18-year-old drinkers would have been amazing to us. But it is not an ideal situation. There is no older generation at these drinking barns to moderate the behaviour of the younger people.

"I blame alcopops. When you start as a drinker, you used to start on beer, which is an acquired taste, so two pints in an evening was about as much as you could manage. Alcopops are designed for the childish palate. They taste sweet and nice but they have a strength of five and a half per cent, far stronger than any beer.

"Lager used to be very weak, so that young blokes could put away ten pints without falling over. I am also concerned about cheap ciders, which are real rocket fuels, especially when they are on sale in buy one get one free deals."

He said the effect is to create a climate of drinking that discourages older people from going to pubs, making them even more the kind of place where young people, with a large disposable income, go simply to get as drunk as they can on the cash they have in their pockets. Even at up to £3 a pint, the average young adult in full employment will not miss the £50 or £60 they can spend on drink.

"If you are a real ale pub, you have to employ bar staff who know how to look after and serve a decent pint. The only training the staff in these drinking bars need is to take the top off a bottle."

CAMRA has backed Devizes Pubwatch's strategy to beat anti-social behaviour, most of which is the result of binge drinking.

Mike Benner, head of communications at CAMRA, said: "In recent years too much investment has been made in large themed town centre bars aimed at the lucrative youth market, while traditional community pubs have often been left to wither. This has fuelled problems with alcohol-related disorder and made many town centres no-go areas for anyone over the age of 25."

He added: "The emphasis in pub design needs to move away from large drinking halls with few seats where customers are forced to stand and more people can be crammed in. It is these conditions which fuel speed drinking and exclude older people.

"More town-centre pubs need to offer a relaxed environment with seating and amenities to attract a better mix of people, both young and old."