Police officers have extended their weekend patrols in a bid to tackle street drinking in Norwich city centre.

Complaints about anti-social behaviour by revellers in the streets off Prince of Wales Road have prompted police officers in the city to change their shift patterns to crackdown on offenders.

Inspector Chris Brooks, from the City Centre Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) said: 'Anti-social behaviour around the top of Cathedral Street at junction with St Faith's Lane is currently a priority for the team.

'Officers have altered their duties in order to tackle the issues in the early hours predominantly on Fridays and Saturdays.'

Julian Foster, chairman of the city centre's Safer Neighbourhood Action Panel (SNAP) said: 'Until very recently, police have tended to knock off at about 3am, so from 3am until 6am, when the last clubs finished, there was no police on the street.

'I asked that they put police on the street, which they've done with regular patrols in Prince of Wales Road and the adjoining streets, which are now the priority area.'

Mr Foster said officers were now patrolling until 5am at weekends so they could deal with people causing problems after leaving clubs.

So far, the team have issued 15 Section 27 notices, which ban individuals from returning to the area within 48 hours, and last Saturday the team made one arrest for assault. A 68-year-old man who lives in St Faith's Lane, but did not want to be named, said: 'They all pour out of the clubs and its just yobbo behaviour in Recorder Road, St Faiths Lane and around the corner on Cathedral Street.' Sergeant Pete Sharples, from the SNT, said: 'What we're doing at the moment is trying to tackle it by patrolling and using the tools that we have like Section 27 notices. We know there's a problem and are trying to tackle it.'

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