SIR – Linda Greaves advocates that no one under the age of 21 in the UK should be allowed to buy alcohol, then says she feels sorry for pubs which are closing down due to the financial crisis, (Letters, December 15).

Is she not aware that many landlords are kept afloat by these teenagers?

As for America managing perfectly well with the legal age of 21, Ms Greaves is seemingly oblivious of the fact that thousands of under-age drinkers there commit the most horrendous crimes, many being involved in the 7,000 or more homicides perpetrated in that country every year.

Depriving law-abiding 18-year-olds of a few drinks would be a retrograde step, not a solution to what is now a worldwide problem.

D Rhodes, Croscombe Walk, Bradford