THE landlord of a Worcester pub is calling for a CCTV camera to be installed outside his premises in a bid to combat a drugs problem he claims has blighted the area for years.

The Evening News reported on Monday that the city council is on the verge of signing a £123,000 deal to upgrade 36 of the city's 62 cameras by the end of April to, among other things, monitor crime better.

Now Chris Watts, who has run The Albion pub on Bath Road for 18 years, wants one of the old cameras placed outside the pub which, he says, is a regular "dropping off point" for drug users.

"Being on the junction between Bath Road and Diglis Road we have a fantastic view of all the drug deals that go on here," he said.

"Because we are a large, well-lit pub we are almost a landmark - easy to find and easily recognised.

"The lack of CCTV cameras means we are becoming the dead letterbox for the unruly element."

Mr Watts said he feared the problem would be compounded with the long list of redevelopments planned for the Diglis area.

"With hundreds of new houses and a new canal bridge in the plans, this area will be a rat-run for people to get lost," he said.

"We've reported the drug problems to the police on several occasions but I haven't seen them. They've said in the past that they've caught offenders by using a camera in Sidbury but we need one here."

Stuart Stone, the council's assistant engineer, said the council would not be making a decision whether to replace the cameras until Tuesday, March 1.

"At the moment, the plan would be to strip down the old ones and retain them for spare parts but using them elsewhere is a matter for discussion," he added.

"It all depends on the state of them - they are still effective but they are coming to the end of their life."

A spokesperson for Worcester police said: "The decision on the location of any CCTV camera is a matter for the Community Safety Partnership.

"We would obviously have an input on those discussions and the siting of the cameras would depend on, what we would call, priorities."

He said the Community Safety Partnership and Worcester police would study the amount of crime in the area before making a final decision.