Britain sobers up as alcohol consumption continues to fall

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But I thought Britain was in a drinking epidemic, that we were a nation of drunks, and that we are all killing ourselves because we drink too much and therefore alcohol prices should be raised?

All lies, of course. We're drinking far less now than we did fifteen years ago.

its because people cant afford to drink so much.

I predict that stress related illnesses will (if they havent already) go up, due to the general austerity and people 'making do'.

They could do if taxes were lowered, but that's the high tax regime in action.

I'm waiting to see which western country reinstates booze prohibition first, just to save one life and all that.

Then I'm waiting to see how long it'll last this time.

Probably Norway.

If you've cut back on wine and vodka, then you can still get drunk on beer, can't you?

Researchers forecast that every British adult will knock back about 53m fewer litres of wine and spirits by 2016, the equivalent of at least a bottle every year.

They cant afford wine and spirits now - everyone is on frosty jack. lol

All alcohol consumption is falling, not just that of wine and spirits. It's been falling for years.

Im surprised at this.

I was under the impression that the min price per unit was due to people drinking too much.

Sober Up Britaina! What a dreadful end to a wonderful national career.

ruveyn

Much cheaper to get drunk on cheap wine than beer. Beer is expensive. Vodka is actually the cheapest way to get drunk, especially if it's counterfeit and has a load of antifreeze or methanol in. You can get really disgusting cider in 5l bottles almost as cheap, though.

Indeed - it would probably cost me the better part of £20 to get drunk on decent beer. With wine, I could probably get pretty rat arsed for well under a tenner.

You Englishmen (and women) are so funny. You have it all worked out--how much it will cost you to achieve a target-level of intoxication through various alcoholic beverages.

Your goal is drunkenness, and you want to get there as cheaply as possible.

The Swedes, Danes and Norwegians are a lot worse than we are.

Not necessarily. I tend not to drink for strength, but for flavour so that costs me a lot more. If I wanted to get drunk quickly, I'd pick up six bottles of 8.2% Weston's Vintage Cider for £9 at the local off-licence or perhaps two bottles of wine for £8 or less from the local Aldi. If I drank my normal beers, it would probably cost me more like £16 or so, as I pick various different beer styles as well and these beers are a lot more expensive than just getting drunk on cheap wine or cider. (A good beer in a supermarket is around £1.80 per half-litre these days, but the cost varies depending on supermarket, strength and brand.)

The idea that British people drink to get drunk is often a myth - and, in fact, the people who drink solely on price tend to be the budget drinkers anyway.

Here in the Netherlands the alcohol tax increases dramatically with rising alcohol by volume, so the tax on beer isn't that high.
If you would drink the cheapest beer, that would cost about 4,50 E for a crate (24 bottles, 7.2 liters), I don't think wine or vodka would be cheaper.

What alcohol by volume would that be? 5%?