BRITS abroad continue to get a bad name when they hit the bottle, leading the government of Catalunya to ban ‘happy hours’ in bars.

The Generalitat claims that cut-price alcoholic drinks encourage foreign tourists to over-indulge.

Any bar found advertising special offers or discounts could be fined up to 7,000 euros.

Although summer holidaymakers on the Costa Brava and Costa Daurada are being targeted, the Generalitat is particularly concerned about drunken Friday and Saturday night revelry in Barcelona.

Now one of the top destinations for hen and stag parties for British nationals, the city sees vandalism, violence, noise, masses of litter and several arrests for disorderly behaviour nearly every weekend through the loutish behaviour of foreign tourists.

Whilst the Generalitat has not named UK citizens as being the source of the problem, their new law is said to be aimed at binge-drinking foreigners who come from countries where alcohol is restricted or expensive.