LANDLORDS have created a security ring to crack down on drunken violence in the run up to Christmas.

Licencees of 20 pubs in Bishop Auckland have joined forces with police to crackdown on rowdy revellers by installing a radio system that allows them warn each other of trouble.

The pilot system, which also allows landlords to summon police to their premises in an emergency, is an adaptation of the system used by the town's shopkeepers.

To combat shoplifting, 33 traders recently set up a radio system to keep open lines of communication with police and warn each other of thieves operating in the town.

Sergeant Brian Wilkes, one of the police officers behind the initiative, said: "The scheme gives pub staff more confidence, because they know they can speak directly to officers out on patrol should there be trouble on their premises and then officers can take action quickly.

"It is an extension to the Shop Watch scheme. This is the time to do it, when it is busy before Christmas, because if it is going to work, it has got to work now. The plan is to eventually link it with closed-circuit television cameras.

"The scheme is really about talking to each other, and it should have real benefits for the community."

Christopher Shaw, bar manager at the Queen's Head, in Bishop Auckland Market Place, said the system will reassure staff working on busy weekend nights.

He said: "I think it will make a difference as long as people make good use of it. There is a panic button that goes straight to the police if you press it for two seconds, and the police know which pub has pressed it.

"This should stamp out trouble, because the Christmas spirit is a little bit high with some people sometimes."

A similar pubwatch scheme in Spennymoor helped to change the town's poor reputation for drunken violence.

More than 20 pubs in the town signed up to the scheme last year and within a few months the number of recorded incidents of trouble plummeted