Clubbers in the borough’s drinking hotspots were breathalysed over the bank holiday before entering bars, in a crackdown on drunken violence.

Your Local Guardian:

Tipsy-looking revellers were asked by bouncers to blow into the machine which has indicators from zero, to low and high.

The high measure means a person has had drunk five pints of beer or more. Ten of the bright yellow machines are being operated by bouncers in Putney, Balham and Clapham Junction.

Friday was the first night of the pilot scheme in Wandsworth and police reported there were no notable violent crimes linked to drinking in the borough's bars and clubs.

Your Local Guardian:

PC Darren Sims, neighbourhood officer for Northcote and Clapham Junction, said: "It’s all to give doormen support in their decision to prevent someone coming into their bar.

"These [machines] have a much higher threshold than the road-side ones. It doesn’t mean that everyone in the queue has to blow into it.

"We are doing everything we can to help doormen help us out on the frontline and to stop fights happening."

He said Clapham Junction, a party hotspot, had three main types of crime linked to its night time economy. The first was pub fights, usually involving someone looking at someone else’s girlfriend. The second was mobile phone theft and the third was drunk people who refused to pay their taxi fares.

He added: "A big problem is front-loading, getting drunk at home then going out after that. The problem is bars get drunk people on their hands and are blamed for getting people drunk. It is definitely to protect licencees and to help them help us to reduce crime in town centres, particularly violent crime."

The Clapham Grand, which has a capacity of 1,250, has been given two machines. Manager Ender Duven, 40, has worked at the venue for 14 years, and said: "We started it on Friday and I used it on three people trying to get into the club and three customers were refused entry due to the level of alcohol they had.

"They were two females and one male. They all claimed they were not drunk but they made a red signal and they all left straight away, no arguing.

"I’m hoping we will use it more. It has helped us big time and it is easy to use."

Last year a report by the doctors in charge of Wandsworth’s healthcare revealed the level of alcohol-related crime in Wandsworth was significantly higher than the national average with an estimated 28.5 per cent of the adult (16+) population engaging in high risk alcohol consumption.

Under the new scheme, party-goers who give a reading of more than twice the drink-drive limit can be refused entry by door staff. Police hope it will tie in with other measures used in the borough such as ID scanning.

A number of the machines, called alcohol breath devices, were first trialled by the Metropolitan Police Service in Croydon at the end of November 2014.

The trial will last six months and participating venues include Fez, Slug and Lettuce, Revolution Bar, Northcote Records and the Clapham Grand.