A SOUTHAMPTON bar is pledging to crack down on underage drinkers with the help of a novel idea.

After serving alcohol to an under age volunteer who was part of a police test purchasing exercise, bosses at Sobar are getting tough on young drinkers.

As a result of the failure the member of staff was given an on-the-spot fine and managers are in talks with police about how they can stop the same thing happening again.

In a novel response the popular bar has come up with its own way of ensure they only serve to over 18s.

The brainchild was that of bar staff member Amy Beale who thought it would be a good idea to issue young looking customers with a stamp confirming they had been checked for identification.

A tough door policy of no identification, no entry was also being enforced by door staff and once inside the stamp ensures bar staff can be confident in serving them drinks.

Manager Lucy John, who recently took over the Bevios Valley Road venue with assistant manager Yasmin Rodriguez said: "We were very disappointed to fail the test purchasing exercise.

Strict ID policy "We are very strict on the whole issue of ID now and we simply will not have people in here who cannot produce ID.

"We do not want this happening again, and I was really impressed with the idea Amy came up with to help that. After we failed she came up with the idea and we put it into practice as soon as possible, and it seems to be working."

The stamps have only been in operation since the start of the week and according to staff they are already proving popular.

Lucy added: "It is has proved very popular. Most of the young people we have checked and have a stamp seem to rather like it."

The initiative comes after the launch of the Daily Echo's Keep kids Sober campaign aimed at preventing under age drinkers.