A DRUNKEN brawl in Worcester city centre led to seven men from across the county being arrested.

Officers were called to a "large fight" near the Nationwide building in High Street at around 9.30pm on Saturday night.

This led to the men - four 21-year-olds from Malvern, a 22-year-old from Droitwich, a 23-year-old from Worcester and a 24-year-old - being arrested on suspicion of affray.

They have been bailed until January 12.

According to Superintendent Kevin Purcell the incident was dealt with "swiftly" and involved a large number of officers.

It is the second violent incident that has marred Worcester in the past four months, after the Bank Holiday Monday brawl outside McDonald’s in Foregate Street.

Supt Purcell warned anyone heading into the city centre in the next week or so that the police will have more boots on the ground to tackle these kind of incidents.

There were 23 arrests in Worcester on Saturday night for drink-related offences, which "varied from a female allegedly throwing a bag of chips at a police officer to fighting and generally disorderly behaviour".

Supt Purcell said: "This coming weekend is likely to see some of the busiest nights of the year for pubs and clubs in the city and we will be running our Christmas Presence operation to tackle exactly this type of behaviour.

"This operation will see additional officers on the street and I’d like to warn people that if you are intent on causing trouble and ruining the festive spirit for others you will not be welcome in the city.

"These officers will be there to help keep people safe and deal promptly with anyone committing a crime."

He added: "Planning is taking place in Worcester to proactively use of powers under the Public Order Act 2014 at our busiest times to ensure that where there are known hotspots we apply the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to ensure safety, preventing crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour."

Anyone with information on the brawl is asked to call 101, quoting incident number 757 of December 13.

Witnesses can also speak to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or by visiting crimestoppers-uk.org.

Officers are also looking at CCTV footage of the incident.