POLICE have "hammered" drug dealing in Winchester and dramatically reduced offending, officers told residents last night.

Five people from London have been arrested recently after using city houses as bases, PCSO Tim Wyld told a meeting.

It comes after crackhouses in Trussell Crescent, Weeke and Colson Close, Winnall, were shut via court order.

PCSO Wyld said a vulnerable drug user in Trussell Crescent was being "hosted" by dealers from the capital, who would send runners to deal on the streets.

"We've made it really difficult for it to happen - we've dramatically reduced what's going on," PCSO Donna Bidle told the Police and Communities Together (PACT) meeting, praising the work of colleagues. "They've hammered it completely - they're speaking to these people all the time and finding out where these people are coming from."

Officers also said they had clamped down on a legal high dealer in Winchester city centre.

A woman operating from Kings Walk Antique Market has stopped selling New Psychoactive Substances after officers threatened to shut her down through the courts, PCSO Wyld said.

One woman, who said she works at the market one day a week, said: "It used to be horrendous. We used to just have kids - thousands of them, literally - and we don't get that anymore."

Last month police closed Head High, a shop selling legal highs in Stockbridge Road, after reports it was becoming a hive for anti-social behaviour.