Drinks at one Kent nightclub are being sold for just 50p.

Club owners have defended the "credit crunch" move, after Strawberry Moons in Gabriels Hill, Maidstone, started selling beer, bottles and spirits at 50p each.

The move was a blow across the bows of Jumpin Jaks, also in Maidstone, which reduced its drinks to 80p in August.

Every Friday night, Strawberry Moons is selling drinks for 50p before 10pm and £1.50 before midnight.

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Club owner Robert Wilson described the move as a “credit crunch promotion.”

He said: “Things are tight for everyone at the moment. Although the town is packed on a Saturday night things are tough out there in the week.

“This is a short term promotion. We all know we are in the worst recession since the 1980s.”

When Jumpin Jaks launched its promotion Tony Williams of the Kenward Trust, a charity for people suffering from drug and alcohol misuse, said enticing customers with substantially reduced alcoholic drinks would “only compound the problems young people are already experiencing in relation to alcohol.”

He said: “I would urge them to think of other ways to attract customers.”

However, Mr Wilson is convinced his club’s clientele has a responsible attitude to alcohol.

He said: “Generally people are very careful about what they drink. They know the dangers of excessive drinking and they don’t do it.”