Jasmine HooleBy Charlotte McDonaldBusiness reporter, BBC NewsA record one in five drinkers gave up alcohol for Dry January, a British Beer and Pub Association survey suggests.Charity Alcohol Change UK said those using its app to track a month of not drinking saved on average £118.But pubs have reported a drop in drinks sales, while the prices of no and low-alcohol drinks are rising faster than their boozy counterparts.Jasmine Hoole tried Dry January for the first time and said it boosted her bank balance as well as her energy levels.”I have managed to save myself £200 for my holiday fund which I am super happy about as I normally find it quite hard to save for these kind of things,” she said.The young people saving money by going soberThe Sober Diaries: My challenge has just startedThe 23-year-old is one of an estimated 8.5m people who planned to ditch drinking in January, according to Alcohol Change UK.She is also one of more than 100,000 people who downloaded the charity’s official Try Dry app which tracks days without alcohol and the financial savings of a booze-free month.UK users of the app saved on average £118 this Dry January, compared with £117 last year, Alcohol Change UK said.Impact on pubsHowever, all this extra cash in punters pockets is hitting the hospitality industry hard. CGA consultancy which works with the alcohol industry said drink sales at UK bars were down by seven per cent in January.Sasha Lord, chairman of the Night Time Industries Association, told BBC Breakfast pubs and bars in the UK had noticed “a slight downward fall off due to the cost of living”.He said: “I think we now need to start breaking away from this mould that to go to a pub you have to have a pint.”We know times are hard but if you are in the fortunate position that you can go out, maybe for a bite to eat, or come to the pub and have a pint, non-alcoholic pint, please do it.”Spend Dry January with us, say pubs and barsEmma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association said: “Over the last 15 years, alcohol consumption in the UK has fallen by 15% and this January has been the driest yet with 1 in 5 giving up alcohol.”Meanwhile, the no and low alcohol drinks market is growing, she said.”85% of pubs now serve alcohol-free beers, up from 78% in 2020 and our survey also showed that 30% of consumers enjoyed no or low alcohol products in their pub over the past month when partaking in Dry January – half plan to integrate these drinks into their life moving forward,” she added.As the popularity of alcohol alternatives has been rising – so have the prices. The cost of no and low alcohol beer and cider has been going up faster than the boozy versions, according to data by Associa, and analysed by The Grocer magazine.The research suggests a surge of 13.3% in the prices of non-alcoholic alternatives since the beginning of last year. In comparison, full-strength beer and cider experienced a milder increase of 10.4% Price risesAssocia compared display prices on 1 January 2024 to those in the same week of 2023 in the UK’s major supermarkets Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, Tesco’s, Asda and Waitrose.One of the biggest price changes was found in Waitrose where a 500ml bottle of Erdinger Alkoholfrei Wheat Beer rose 75% from £1 to £1.75.Waitrose said the price increase was down to the drinks returning to their regular prices in January 2024, having been on offer previously.Meanwhile in Sainsbury’s 12 packs of Heineken 0.0 Alcohol-Free Lager jumped from £7 to £11.50.Sainsbury’s said the conclusions in the report were “misleading” because it compared mostly promotional prices in 2023 with base prices in 2024. “Prices can go up and down for a range of reasons but we’re committed to offering our customers great value,” a spokesperson said.James Beeson, drinks editor at The Grocer, said: “Even if we discount the impacts of promotional activity, we’re still seeing low and …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnJasmine HooleBy Charlotte McDonaldBusiness reporter, BBC NewsA record one in five drinkers gave up alcohol for Dry January, a British Beer and Pub Association survey suggests.Charity Alcohol Change UK said those using its app to track a month of not drinking saved on average £118.But pubs have reported a drop in drinks sales, while the prices of no and low-alcohol drinks are rising faster than their boozy counterparts.Jasmine Hoole tried Dry January for the first time and said it boosted her bank balance as well as her energy levels.”I have managed to save myself £200 for my holiday fund which I am super happy about as I normally find it quite hard to save for these kind of things,” she said.The young people saving money by going soberThe Sober Diaries: My challenge has just startedThe 23-year-old is one of an estimated 8.5m people who planned to ditch drinking in January, according to Alcohol Change UK.She is also one of more than 100,000 people who downloaded the charity’s official Try Dry app which tracks days without alcohol and the financial savings of a booze-free month.UK users of the app saved on average £118 this Dry January, compared with £117 last year, Alcohol Change UK said.Impact on pubsHowever, all this extra cash in punters pockets is hitting the hospitality industry hard. CGA consultancy which works with the alcohol industry said drink sales at UK bars were down by seven per cent in January.Sasha Lord, chairman of the Night Time Industries Association, told BBC Breakfast pubs and bars in the UK had noticed “a slight downward fall off due to the cost of living”.He said: “I think we now need to start breaking away from this mould that to go to a pub you have to have a pint.”We know times are hard but if you are in the fortunate position that you can go out, maybe for a bite to eat, or come to the pub and have a pint, non-alcoholic pint, please do it.”Spend Dry January with us, say pubs and barsEmma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association said: “Over the last 15 years, alcohol consumption in the UK has fallen by 15% and this January has been the driest yet with 1 in 5 giving up alcohol.”Meanwhile, the no and low alcohol drinks market is growing, she said.”85% of pubs now serve alcohol-free beers, up from 78% in 2020 and our survey also showed that 30% of consumers enjoyed no or low alcohol products in their pub over the past month when partaking in Dry January – half plan to integrate these drinks into their life moving forward,” she added.As the popularity of alcohol alternatives has been rising – so have the prices. The cost of no and low alcohol beer and cider has been going up faster than the boozy versions, according to data by Associa, and analysed by The Grocer magazine.The research suggests a surge of 13.3% in the prices of non-alcoholic alternatives since the beginning of last year. In comparison, full-strength beer and cider experienced a milder increase of 10.4% Price risesAssocia compared display prices on 1 January 2024 to those in the same week of 2023 in the UK’s major supermarkets Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, Tesco’s, Asda and Waitrose.One of the biggest price changes was found in Waitrose where a 500ml bottle of Erdinger Alkoholfrei Wheat Beer rose 75% from £1 to £1.75.Waitrose said the price increase was down to the drinks returning to their regular prices in January 2024, having been on offer previously.Meanwhile in Sainsbury’s 12 packs of Heineken 0.0 Alcohol-Free Lager jumped from £7 to £11.50.Sainsbury’s said the conclusions in the report were “misleading” because it compared mostly promotional prices in 2023 with base prices in 2024. “Prices can go up and down for a range of reasons but we’re committed to offering our customers great value,” a spokesperson said.James Beeson, drinks editor at The Grocer, said: “Even if we discount the impacts of promotional activity, we’re still seeing low and …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
