PUBS have banned Oxford University students who celebrate the end of their exams by throwing food over each other.

All 36 pubs in the city's Pubwatch scheme say they will refuse to serve anyone who has been covered in food as part of a so-called 'trashing' during the finals exam season.

Students gather outside the exam schools after finals - which finish next week - and shower friends in everything from champagne, to flour, eggs and fish guts.

The Turf is a popular spot for post-exam celebrations. But managers are turning away up to 20 'trashed' students every day.

Manager Darren Kent said: "This tradition may date back to the early 1800s, but in the last couple of years it has got worse and has reached the stage where it cannot be tolerated.

"People in pubs, and tourists, don't want to run the gauntlet of walking past people covered in eggs, flour, beans and the like, and many pubs have said enough is enough.

"We don't want to spoil anyone's fun, but we won't tolerate food abuse any more."

Proctors at the university last year collected £6,000 in fines from students for trashings - five times more than any previous year.

Advice sent out to students warned that no pubs would let them in covered in food, and pointed out that two people - who were not identified by the university - broke limbs last year after slipping in debris left behind from trashings.

The King's Arms, in Holywell Street, is refusing entry to anybody wearing gowns, carrying balloons or covered in food or foam.

Manager Ali Duncan said: "We decided to do this because of the hassle they created last year.

"They were coming in covered in flour and eggs, drinking their own champagne and making it very unpleasant for other customers."

The move has been backed by Nightsafe and by Oxford University Student Union.

Student Union president Martin McCluskey admitted he had been "trashed" during his exam celebrations last year, but said he would not advocate it.

He said: "Last year really went to an extreme, and the way the proctors dealt with it was fairly extreme as well. But I think the advice has worked. It is much better."

Annabelle Palmer, 22, of St John's College, finished her finals last Friday. She said: "I can understand why pubs are doing this. It's fair enough not letting us in, because we do make a mess."

But George Gabriel, 20, of Wadham College, said: "The ban is ridiculous. It's an Oxford University tradition."