POLICE say a series of violent assaults in Lancaster city centre are undermining their bid to make the city safe for a night out.

Three separate incidents have hit the city in a little over a week, despite moves by the police to clamp down on drunken violence.

In the latet attack, a 26 -year-old visitor to the city had a glass thrust in his face in an unprovoked late night attack in a pub.

The man, who was visiting the area from Coventry, was in the Alex pub at around 12.30am on Saturday morning.

He was in conversation with a man and a woman in the club when, without provocation, the man took his pint glass and thrust it into the other mans face.

The attacker is described as male, white, 5ft 9in tall, of stocky build, with short, straight brown hair.

He wore dark blue trousers, possibly jeans, and a dark blue top with a logo, possibly Adidas, on the front.

He may have cut himself in the incident as he was later seen washing blood off his hands in the toilets.

Just last week a soldier based at Halton was glassed in the Liquid nightclub, while one local man was knocked unconscious and another seriously injured after being beaten up outside Iky's takeaway on St Leonardsgate.

Det Sgt Mark Salisbury said: "From enquiries into this offence it appears to be a totally unprovoked attack.

"Although the victim has sustained serious cuts the injuries could have been far worse.

"At the time of the attack the Alex bar was crowded with customers. Hopefully somebody will be able to identify the offender or assist in these enquiries."

He added: "Assaults of this nature are undermining all the positive work that has gone into making Lancaster's nightlife safer and more enjoyable for everyone in recent times."

Violence in the city centre has been a major priority for police in recent times, and was identified as one of the area's biggest problems in a recent audit.

Schemes such as Pubwatch, and Operation Buxton, which saw high visibility policing in the city, have been set up to combat drunken violence in partnership with local landlords.

Anyone with any information on these incidents is asked to contact the police on 63333.