Kingston students will no longer be able to take part in the cheap booze promotions and drinking games offered by bars in the city after they are banned by the government this April.

Kingston has less of a student booze culture than many universities but there are still plenty of cheap drinks offers around, such as pints for £1.25 with a student “yellow card” at Scream pub The Mill on Mondays.  Under the new proposals licensees would risk a £20,000 fine or six months in prison for offering such deals.

However, many predict that such legislation would simply lead to more students choosing to “pre-load” at home on cheap alcohol from supermarkets. Anna Wilson, an English and Cultural Studies student, said: “People will just drink more before they do out. The government should look at shop prices as well.”

Gianna Bosana, a third year English student, agreed that the new ruling would do little to stop drinking but leave students and local pubs out of pocket: “The deals are good for students on tight budgets. They’ll keep drinking, this will just damage businesses.”

Labour has recently come under increasing pressure to tackle excessive drinking amongst students.The introduction of 24-hour licensing in 2005 was popular with the youth vote but has failed to usher in what Hazel Blears dubbed a “continental cafe-bar culture” in British universities. 

Last November a Sheffield Hallam student narrowly avoided prison after urinating on a war memorial wreath following a student  bar-crawl, organised by the company Carnage UK, in which drinks cost just £1.