Nine shops in Stockton town centre have agreed to stop selling strong, cheap drinks in an effort to drive down alcohol-fuelled anti-social behaviour and street drinking.

The 'Reducing the Strength' scheme encourages off-licences to stop selling beer, lager and cider above 6.5% ABV (alcohol by volume). It is running in Stockton town centre following concerns about shops selling "high strength, low cost" booze, including ciders as strong as 7.5 to 8.4%, to street drinkers, offenders and beggars.

"These people then often go on to cause issues within the town centre such as anti-social behaviour (ASB), aggressive begging, littering and other crime which deters the general public from entering the town centre," said licensing officer Elliott Beevers. "Licensing officers have observed alcoho

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