It is set to be the driest January in living memory. Drinks sales in pubs and bars have plunged. Rising numbers of people are drinking low or no-alcohol. And new data indicates that even older people are joining teens and twentysomethings by giving up booze. With three days to go, this has been a grim month for publicans.
The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) says pubs must adapt quickly by stocking more “lo-no” options and opening their doors more regularly to give community groups a cosy welcome on winter days.
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Market researcher CGA tracks drinks sales in pubs and bars every week and in the last fortnight sales have been down by at least 7% compared with last year, with a 19% fall in sales of spirits last week.
The bad weather and the economic climate are partly to blame, but the company’s managing director Jonathan Jones said Dry January was also “making this a hard month for pubs and bars”.
It doesn’t help when non alcoholic drinks are extortionately priced, some mocktails are just as, and in some cases more than alcoholic cocktails
It’s not even mocktails, which at least have a number of ingredients and require a bit of effort to make, all soft drinks are way over-priced. There’s some saving buying booze from the supermarket but it’s an order of magnitude more for, say, a glass of lemonade.
As someone who doesn’t drink, it does rankle a bit, especially if they should be encouraging people not to drink and drive. There used to be a “designated drive drinks for free” scheme back in the day, but not today (although the landlord does buy me a drink or two if I drop someone off for him).
There are some really good non-alcoholic beers that I genuinely enjoy the taste of.
Laser crush, or Big Drop Paradiso Citra. Both I enjoy, and don’t have either loads of sugar or wierd sweeteners.
But they are never have the NA option.