Some of Sussex's biggest night clubs have today been named and shamed by a new campaign against flyposting.

The illegal advertising, which appears on shop hoardings and pillar boxes, costs tens of thousands of pounds to clean up each year in Brighton and Hove alone.

The city council has targeted clubs associated with promotional posters as part of the campaign to clean up the streets.

Illegal posters for The Audio Club found in the city centre have resulted in the council slapping a £250 fine on the venue.

Others accused of offending include the Ocean Rooms in Morley Street, which got a £200 fine, The Event 2 club in West Street, which was fined £100, and the Brighton Gloucester in Gloucester Place, which was billed £100.

As well as the annual £40,000 clean-up cost of the posters, flyposting is also blamed for making an area look run down and creating an environment that encourages crime and antisocial behaviour.

Council enforcement officer Michael Logue said the authority took down about 100 illegal posters every week.

He said: "Traders who have had their properties defaced by flyposters on a regular basis are fed up and angry at this antisocial behaviour.

"We are stepping up our work and warning anyone flyposting to expect a fixed penalty notice."

Peter Gibson, a spokesman for Encams, the group behind the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, said: "Adjustments in existing laws now mean that it is not enough for club owners to deny knowledge of their employees placing posters.

"They will now need hard evidence to prove that they did not know.

"Our surveys show that it is in fact the bigger corporate companies that are the worst perpetrators of flyposting.

"Recent studies show that club chains are flyering in one town for events in another.

"This is unfortunate for areas such as Brighton as it means that the national chains are not only taking money away from local business but are also costing local citizens huge amounts of money in council tax to get the posters removed.

"One concern is that posters placed in run-down areas of town not only make the area look worse but also make residents and locals feel increasingly unsafe."

Brighton and Hove City Council blitzed Sydney Street in North Laine and issued £50 fines for each poster in response to complaints from traders.

But club owners have complained that there is not enough advertising space for them to promote their venues by legitimate means.

Dan Seringer, a promoter at the Ocean Rooms, said: "We get all our promoters to sign a contract saying they won't fly-post.

"It's not in our interests to make the place look untidy and we fully support the council in their efforts to keep it in check."

Audio general manager Oli Hyde said: "Most of the young promoters learn pretty fast when they get a £50 fine for each poster. It is a big part of our business though and the key issue is that there aren't enough legal sites.

"There are some pretty horrific-looking bare walls that are doing not very much that could be improved with some colourful posters."

Brighton company Swat offers distribution services to pubs, clubs and other venues across Brighton and Hove.

Owner Darren Kis said 10,000 new posters were distributed every month in the city, with only 6,000 spaces for them.

He said: "We are in desperate need for more places outdoors.

"It is only through the goodwill of shopkeepers we have anywhere to put them at all."

Friday, July 15, 2005