THE dangers of drinking too much cheap alcohol was brought home to shoppers in Ellesmere Port’s Port Arcades.

Public health network ChaMPs – on behalf of the Cheshire and Warrington Health and Wellbeing Commission – has been encouraging people in the shopping centre to consider the real issues of cheap alcohol with their latest eye-catching campaign.

The campaign features a reconstructed A&E ward in the centre of the Port Arcades, with actors demonstrating how cheap alcohol can affect the public in ways they may not normally consider.

The commission is urging people to consider the impact of cheap alcohol on public services, families, neighbourhoods and jobs.

Chairman Cllr Clowes said: “We have found minimum alcohol pricing is not something people who drink responsibly really think is a relevant issue to them.

“But there is a huge knock-on effect from cheap alcohol that touches everybody’s lives, from draining the resources of hospitals and the police to encouraging binge drinking in young people and the effect it has on their families.

“Evidence shows that minimum alcohol pricing will make a real difference to communities as a whole, and this is what we would like to demonstrate to people with this thought-provoking campaign.”

Figures show the cost of treating one drunk person in A&E could pay for 21 flu vaccinations or seven visits by a district nurse to a housebound patient.

Police in Cheshire and Warrington are called to deal with an average of 56 incidents a day that involve alcohol.

In Cheshire and Merseyside the impact of alcohol costs our workforce economy £419m every year through lost days of work and reduced employment.