Police in Cupar have declared the first week of the six-week initiative a great success, with a drop of up to 60 per cent in arrests and calls relating to anti-social behaviour compared with the usual Friday and Saturday night tally.

Under the scheme, to which all off-sales retailers in the area have signed up, under 21s will not be able to buy alcohol between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. on either day, and anyone who looks under 25 will be asked for identification proving their date of birth.

More than 50 young people were refused alcohol over the two nights — 35 of them in Tesco — and police seized around 13 litres of alcohol that had been brought into the town from elsewhere.

Cupar-based Inspector Craig Dewar said: "The early indications are that this is a very successful campaign in terms of reducing criminal behaviour.

"I am really heartened by the way the shopkeepers have linked into the scheme and are enforcing the ban so rigorously, because without their support it would not be possible."