A French barman who encouraged a patron to consume 56 shots of alcohol, beating his own record, has been convicted of manslaughter.

A court heard that barman Gilles Crepin led a drinking contest in which customer Renaud Prudhomme broke the in-house shots record in October, 2014, at Le Starter, a bar in the central French town of Clermont-Ferrand.

Mr Prudhomme, 56, who was alleged to have been celebrating with his daughter and friends, was later taken to hospital and died the next day.

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The 47-year-old barman received a four-month suspended jail sentence on Wednesday and was banned from working in a bar for a year, the Daily Mail reported.

At an earlier hearing, Crepin was remorseful for his actions, saying he had made a ‘mistake’ for posting the shots competition on a noticeboard at the venue.

Defence lawyer Renaud Portejoie said he would appeal the ruling.

Mr Portejoie claimed his client bore no responsibility and said it was the man’s daughter who had pushed him to break the record.

But Antoine Portal, a lawyer for Mr Prudhomme’s daughter, said she was not at the bar at the time of the drinking competition.