A sustained 12-month effort to get tough on irresponsible drinkers, and cut alcohol-fuelled violent crime in Portsmouth's entertainment areas will begin tonight (Friday 27 July) at 9pm.

Operation Drink Safe – a joint crackdown led by police but including all Safer Portsmouth Partnership members – will target binge drinkers who are losing control and drinking excessively.

Alcohol-fuelled violent crime in popular bar and club areas such as Guildhall Walk and Gunwharf Quays in the city can be a major problem at weekends for the local authorities.

According to police figures, violent crime has already been reduced by more than eight per cent in Portsmouth over the past year.

The new partnership, which has received the support by many leisure operators in the area, is trying to bring it down even further by targeting areas around the city's licensed premises, where there have been persistent problems.

The initiative will include wider use of special powers like "exclusion orders" – the ability to ban convicted violent offenders from licensed premises for up to two years.

A huge marketing and media campaign will support the operation, with 10,000 beer mats and 2,500 tent cards (table top cards) given to entertainment venues.

All venues will be displaying a further 10,000 bright red, white and black "How Much is Too Much?" posters with their distinctive, light-hearted but impacting stickmen design.

There is also a cinema advert running at VUE cinema in Gunwharf and a 5-week radio campaign to target the beginning of the football season.

And, uniquely, the new town centre nightclub, Liquid & Envy, will be projecting Operation Drink Safe messages in to their dance floor areas from this week.

Chief Superintendent John Campbell, commander of the police in Portsmouth, said: "We'll be using a whole raft of different tactics to police the night-time entertainment areas and create an environment that is safe and welcoming for those who want to enjoy themselves responsibly, but tactics that are hostile to drunks and trouble makers.

"We know most people want to go out and have a good time without seeing any trouble and we hope we can count on the residents of Portsmouth to give us their full backing."