TODAY’S edition of The Northern Echo could help to change the culture of the North-East forever.

Until relatively recently, some people in the North-East have taken a certain pride in the area being seen as one of the hardest-drinking regions in the country.

But many feel that it is time to say the party is over.

Concern at the surge in the number of people falling seriously ill because of excessive drinking, combined with a sharp rise in alcohol-related violence in towns and cities, led to the creation this year of England’s first alcohol agency, Balance.

Now Balance is asking people in the region what they think about our love affair with drink and whether there is anything anyone can do to curb the problem.

Balance says it does not want to spoil people’s fun, but argues it is time to take a more balanced approach to how people in the region drink.

On Page Five today, The Northern Echo carries the North-East Big Drink Debate questionnaire, devised by Balance, to find out where people drink, how much they drink, whether they have been affected by drink-fuelled violence and, crucially, what it would take to reduce their alcohol consumption.

The aim of Balance, which is funded by the NHS and the Home Office, is to come up with proposals, based on information from the Big Drink Debate, that would help us all to drink less and behave better.

It could lead to Balance heading campaigns for legislation that could change the country’s drinking habits.

Some of the ideas being considered by Balance are an increase in the minimum price of alcohol, a clampdown on the availability of drink for under-18s and the banning of promotions that encourage people to indulge in excessive drinking.

The North-East has a higher proportion of its population admitted to hospital because of alcohol than any other part of England, and the area’s towns and cities often become drunken battlegrounds late at night.

Specialists – such as gastroenterologist Dr Chris Record, from the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, who has backed the initiative – are fed up with seeing more and more patients dying with livers ravaged by alcohol.

Yesterday, Balance launched The Big Drink Debate on the streets of Newcastle and Darlington.

In the morning, Balance staff were in Newcastle’s main shopping street and offered passers-by the chance to try a “mocktail” – a non-alcohol cocktail. While sipping grapefruit and orange, shoppers were questioned by health workers.

Meanwhile, actors from the Live Theatre group, in Newcastle, acted out typical scenes of North-East Saturday night hedonism to attract people’s attention.

In the afternoon, the Balance roadshow moved to Darlington Market Square.

Director Colin Shevills said: “We are not trying to spoil the fun. Let them have a good time, but we are asking people to think about how much alcohol they are consuming and suggesting they could cut down a bit.

“If we all cut down a bit, it would have a major impact on people’s health, crime, disorder and the nuisance we see on the streets.

“At the moment, many people do not like coming out to certain areas of our towns and cities at night because of what they will see. We have got to make it better for everyone.”

The man mixing the fruit cocktails, Steven Riddell, from Fenham, in Newcastle, said he cut back on his drinking after a health scare two years ago.

He said: “I had a drink-related abscess on my liver, which put me in hospital. I lost three stones in weight and stopped eating. When I was admitted to hospital, they told me the abscess would have burst in two weeks and it probably would have killed me.

“I have worked in bars where I have seen 18-year-olds come in and drink so much they have literally fallen out of the bar and been sick outside.”

Pat Fisher, from Newcastle, said: “I just think young people find it too easy to get their hands on drink. I have seen ten-year-olds drinking alcopops.”

Shaun Montague, 23, from Newcastle, said: “I think people drink too much. I drink too much. I often drink until I haven’t any money left.”

William Borrowdale, 75, from Darlington, said: “If you put the price up, people will still buy it.”

Christine Morris, 56, from Darlington, said: “There’s a lot of binge-drinking in Darlington.”

■ The NHS recommends that men should not regularly drink more than three or four units of alcohol a day (equivalent of two pints of ordinary beer). Women should not regularly drink more than than two to three units of alcohol per day (equivalent of three small glasses of wine).

■ To take part in The Big Drink Debate, go to northeast bigdrinkdebate.org.uk