Teenage volunteers were sent in to off-licences selected by police

The drive also saw targeting of pubs and bars in sting operations which found more than half sold alcohol to under-18s, the Home Office has said.

Volunteers, typically aged 13 or 14, were used at 650 sites, with 51% of pubs and bars failing and 29% of shops.

The eight-week blitz against alcohol-related disorder and underage drinking comes after mounting concern.

The campaign - which targeted 92 communities - also saw alcohol confiscated from more than 4,000 adults and youths.

Of the 1,869 fixed penalty notices, 794 were for causing harassment, 786 for being drunk and disorderly and 289 for other alcohol-related offences.

Police and other officials visited nearly 11,000 licensed premises and more than 3,000 off licences and shops.

We have to accept it's a fair picture of what's happening David Ray, Association of Convenience Stores

Home Secretary David Blunkett said: "These results are a credit to the police forces and their partners - this extra effort over the summer, on top of existing work, has made a real difference.

"We are no longer prepared to tolerate our towns and city centres becoming no-go areas on Friday and Saturday nights."

The Association of Chief Police Officers said the results of the sting operations were "disturbing".

Seventy-seven areas in England and Wales are the focus of the summer campaign, which is a joint initiative between the police and government.

It aims to tackle loutish binge drinkers and reduce alcohol-fuelled violence and under-age drinking.

Loutish drinkers

A spokesman for the British Beer and Pub Association pointed out that the vast majority of the UK's 60,000 bars and pubs complied with the law.

One in three shops targeted sold beer or alcopops to under-18s

The volunteers who target premises are not allowed to be drawn from nearly-18 or older looking teenagers and are sent in by police to buy beer or alcopops.

They are not allowed to lie about their age and must leave the premises immediately if they fail to be served.

BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw accompanied Essex Police officers on a sting operation in Southend-on-Sea.

He said the girls used in the test, aged 13 and 14, were asked for proof of age in almost all the targeted off-licences and grocery stores - but a few continued to break the law.

One of the underage girls, Jodie, said she had been able to purchase alcohol.

"I went into a convenience store picked up some alcopops took them over to the counter.

"The boy, who was about 17, counted them up and pressed the bell to let the supervisor know he was serving alcohol.

"He just came out nodded and went back in. He sold it to me and I walked straight out again."

Culture change

Across the 77 areas, almost three in 10 off-licences sold alcohol illegally.

David Ray, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, said retailers needed to be offered training as part of a "three strikes and you're out" policy.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The results aren't great. We are extremely disappointed. We have to accept it's a fair picture of what's happening."

Our correspondent said the campaign had shown national supermarket chains were also selling to under-18s.

Trading standards officer Carl Robinson said: "[Supermarkets] have a high turnover of stock, they have perhaps a high turnover of till operators and although they generally have good training procedures in place, a few sales slip through the net."

The crackdown is part of an attempt by Mr Blunkett to start a "culture change" in Britain's approach to binge drinking.

Alcohol is the root cause of 70% of weekend night admissions to casualty, according to Home Office statistics.

Problem drinking is thought to cost Britain about �20bn a year through crime, injuries and lost productivity at work.