ATTACKS on people in Bolton's pubs and clubs have dropped by nearly 50 per cent over the past two years, police figures reveal.

The number of serious woundings fell from 23 over the 10 months from January-October, 2000, to 13 over the same period last year.

And the figures this year remain about the same with 14 reported incidents during the same period.

The statistics also reveal that from January to October, 2001, there were 505 reports of less serious public order offences which were reduced to 377 over the same period this year.

Police are attributing the success to a crackdown codenamed Operation Siren which was launched two years ago to combat concerns over outbreaks of violence in the town's nightspots.

Chief Inspector Alan Greene of Bolton Police said: "We felt that the levels of violence were unacceptably high and violent crime was not being treated as seriously as it should have been by us.

"The way we tackled it was to change our officers' shift patterns so they were coming on duty at 7pm when the pubs were filling up and going out on the streets.

"That way, people starting seeing a police presence before they began drinking. Previously, officers were not going out until 2am when the problems had already started."

In addition to the officers patrolling the town centre, police chiefs also introduced a video van which tours the streets gathering evidence which can be used in court.

Chief Insp Greene said the police operation to combat violence in Bolton's pubs and clubs had been well received by licensees.