$550 fine for not leaving pubs

Drunk people who refuse to leave a pub or club will be hit with a $550 fine, police have warned.

ClubsNSW, the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) and NSW police have teamed up to launch a new anti-social drinking campaign.

The joint move comes after police issued a record number of fines to those refusing to leave licenses premises when asked last month.

Refusing to do so is against the law.

Along with a fine, patrons will be exposed to an advertising campaign encouraging them to recognise when they've had enough.

'We want people to have an enjoyable night out - we're not asking anyone not to drink, but they need to think about the consequences of their actions if they become so intoxicated that their judgement's impaired,' said Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas.

During November's Operation Unite, 128 people were fined for refusing to leave venues when asked, with over 500 arrests made and nearly 1000 charges laid, said Mr Kaldas.

On December 7, a doorman at a Petersham pub refused entry to a drunken patron who then punched him in the face, breaking his jaw and knocking out several teeth.

But Mr Kaldas said overall there had been a 15 per cent drop in non-domestic violence-related assaults over the past year.

It was a small minority that engaged in such behaviour, said CEO of NSW AHA Paul Nicolaou.

'It's only one or two per cent of the community that muck up and play around, and we want to tell those people 'enough is enough'.'

Mr Kaldas said it was unlikely anti-social drinking would be entirely stamped out.

'I wish we could say we'll get to a point where it will completely stop, but I don't think we'll get (there),' he said.

'We want to encourage people to think about the consequences, and a $550 fine and possibly a criminal record is something people should not want to entertain.'