A PUBLIC house has abandoned a binge-drinking promotion after a visit by police and licensing officers.

The Ivy House pub, in the Tyler Hill area of Canterbury, was calling on customers to take up its "Scrumpy Jack Challenge". It planned to reward anyone downing three pints of the potent brew in just 45 minutes with an extra free pint.

But on Wednesday, on the eve of the promotion, officers persuaded the licensee to change the promotion. They told her that encouraging people to drink such strong cider so quickly was unacceptable.

The pub is believed to have been reported to the police by a villager.

Scrumpy Jack cider has a strength value of up to six per cent and drinking three pints of the brew so quickly would render most people drunk.

The city council's commercial health manager Roger Vick, who has been working at national level on the new Licensing Act, said: “This kind of promotion flies in the face of the guidelines that are being built into the new legislation.

“The aim is to discourage these kind of drink promotions which only lead to people getting very drunk very quickly.”

Sophie Davison of the group Alcohol Concern added: “It’s a very irresponsible promotion.

“Drinking this volume and strength of cider so quickly means that the person would have consumed more than half of their weekly recommended allowance alcohol in just an hour.”

The pub, planning a week-long promotion, was visited by police licensing officer Dave Stevenson and city council licensing officer John Newcombe.

PC Stevenson said: “We didn’t like the idea of it at all and although we don’t have specific powers to stop it, persuaded the licensee to change the promotion.

“It is still running but the time factor has been taken out so that a customer who drinks three pints throughout the evening gets a fourth pint free which is acceptable.”

Landlady Natalie Tomlin-Shipp, who only took over the business in September said: “I was only trying to sell some of our slower-moving brands, which included Scrumpy Jack and Green King IPA. Our cider is actually the slightly lower strength version at 5.2 per cent.

“I ran the idea past our customers before announcing the promotion and they were very keen. But I had a very amicable chat with the police and accepted their view and I agreed to drop the time factor.

“It was just a marketing idea and I am only trying to get more people in and make a success of the business.”