Deprivation and lack of hope in Rochdale has been blamed for shock figures revealing that booze is behind more than 30 violent crimes each week across the borough.

The figures released by the North West Public Health Observatory show that only Manchester had more alcohol-related violence, topping the list with 4,192 crimes over the past 12 months leading up to April compared to 1,661 in Rochdale.

But whereas Manchester has a thriving night life with a variety of pubs, clubs, cocktail bars and restaurants, Rochdale's town centre is struggling to survive.

The figures suggest that the problem stems from frequent or binge drinking on shop bought bargain booze, which alters behaviour leading to violence.

Assistant director at The Sanctuary Trust, a Rochdale based charity which provides support to homeless people battling drug and alcohol addiction, Sean Reddaway, believes that Rochdale's higher than average figures are related to its higher than average problems.

He said: "For a person who comes through the project with aggressive alcohol issues drink is literally killing them.

"They have deep rooted emotional problems and the majority of these people at some stage have been involved in violent crime.

"It's very different with alcohol addiction compared to drug addiction. The alcohol does take away a lot of the control of people's emotional outbursts that's why there is a lot of violent behaviour.

"When you can buy cider as cheaply as you can then criminal behaviour is related.

"The number of times we hear about people with alcohol problems beating someone to death - it's horrendous.

"The North West is above the national average for lack of unemployment, poor education and crime and Rochdale is well over the North West average.

"Rochdale has got a big problem and it affects the level of hope."

Mr Reddaway also volunteers as a street pastor in his home town of Chorley where he helps to patrol town centre streets over the weekends to keep people safe.

He continued: "We see a lot of aggression in that environment, but it's easy to pull it back because it's not who the person is.

"But the alcohol problems in Rochdale are about the person's existence. They have probably been involved in violence and neglect themselves and are second or third generation unemployed."

The Sanctuary Trust is now bracing itself for the council's proposal to cut their funding by £200,000 from next year as part of its spending review.

They are also intending to shut down the emergency bed project, which provides overnight stays for 16 and 17-year-olds.

This is in addition to cutting another 150 available beds for the homeless across the borough with Mr Reddaway commenting that half of the people forced onto the street will be alcoholics.

He added: "The cuts Rochdale council has proposed to us as a charity will cut us down completely.

"Do residents really want another 75 aggressive alcoholics sleeping in our parks or doorways of shops?"

Despite Rochdale police division already reducing serious violent crime by a third, compared to last year's figures,

Chief Superintendent John O'Hare agrees that it is a contributing factor to violence in Rochdale.

He said: "Alcohol can be a major factor in the commission of a crime.

"We work closely with our partners and other agencies to look at opportunities to prevent excessive drinking.

"A lot of our success can be attributed to strong partnership activity targeted towards those most likely to offend under the influence of alcohol."