THE North-East was last night branded an easy target as a new study claimed one town was among the “booziest” in Britain.

Analysis for the website local life.co.uk claimed Darlington had more pubs, clubs, bars and offlicences than nearly anywhere else.

The town ranked eighth in a “booze list” drawn up by the website, with at least one such outlet for every 762 residents.

The study drew a direct link between this and Darlington having one of the worst records in the country for under 18s being admitted to hospital for alcohol-related health problems.

However, last night the research was criticised by Kevan Martin, chief executive of the North-East Regional Alcohol Forum (Neraf).

Mr Martin set up the charity after becoming frustrated at the treatment he received for an alcohol addiction.

It now works with local primary care trusts to provide peer support for those with alcohol problems.

Mr Martin said: “They are tainting Darlington with a bad brush. This is a national problem, it is not just about singling out Darlington, Sunderland, Newcastle or whoever else.

“The North-East sits right at the top of alcohol misuse tables and it makes it an easy target, but several organisations are working together to do something about it.

“I don’t really read too much into these kind of statistics. In any case you can have the same level of alcohol misuse in a village with one pub or offlicence as you can in the towns and cities.”

Tony Martin, chairman of local life.co.uk, an internet directory which provides a reference guide for residents and tourists to particular towns, said: “Darlington has one of the highest ratios of boozy businesses relative to population size and suffers some of the worst alcohol-related problems.

“It’s no coincidence. Businesses such as bars, clubs, pubs and off licences have to be supported by customers in order to survive.”

Other places featured in the study included York where the number of pubs, clubs, bars, off licences per head of population was even higher than Darlington – one for every 622 residents.

It came third in the website’s booze list. However Middlesbrough ranked at the opposite end of the scale, having one pub, club, bar or off licence for every 2,379 residents.

Despite this, it has been identified by the Government as one of the worst towns in the country for so-called alcohol related harm, whether this be ill-health or crime.