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15 February 2011 Last updated at 11:14 GMT
By James Morgan BBC News
Despite new evidence that more people are being treated in hospital for
excessive drinking, the overall trend is that we are drinking less as a nation.
Why?
It's difficult to open a newspaper without reading about the alcohol problems
that exist in the UK.
Recent headlines include "Binge drinking costs NHS billions", "Hospitals reel
as drink cases soar" and "Alcohol abuse to cost NHS an extra billion"
And this week, figures from Alcohol Concern suggest the number of people being
treated in hospital for alcohol misuse has more than doubled in eight years.
But behind these stories is an unexpected truth - Britons have been drinking
less and less every year since 2002.
Men and women of all ages are slowly curbing their excesses and drinking in
moderation, according to the annual survey from the Office for National
Statistics, which covers England, Scotland and Wales.
It suggests that heavy drinking is falling, abstinence is rising, and young
people are leading the drive towards healthier drinking.
The decrease among some groups even pre-dates 2002, with men aged 16-24
drinking 26 units a week on average in 1999 and just 15 units a week in 2009,
according to the ONS figures.
Graph showing changes in average weekly alcohol consumption
"There is a received wisdom that we must be drinking more," says Neil Williams
of the British Beer and Pubs Association (BBPA). Its own figures, which are
based on sales and not self-reporting, suggest alcohol sales peaked in 2004 and
have fallen by 13% since then.
"In reality, we see a fairly deep-rooted decline in alcohol consumption which
dates back to 2004. That's not something you see acknowledged in the media."
It's frustrating that the true story is not getting out there, says David
Poley, chief executive of the Portman Group, an association of drinks producers
in the UK.
"With newspapers, the headline is always the same: 'Shock rise in binge
drinking'. But you look at the figures, and you see alcohol sales are
declining.
"It's a myth that we need to make alcohol more expensive [to stop people
drinking]. These trends are being reversed on their own."
Historically, sales of booze rose and fell with the economy. Recessions in the
early 80s and 90s were coupled with a slump in drinking. And the current
downturn is having a similar effect. From 2008-2009, alcohol consumption in the
UK fell by 6%.
Girls drinking alcohol Despite perceptions, young people are drinking less
But that decline started long before the credit crunch kicked in - 2004
according to the BBPA and 2002 by the ONS figures. So what happened?
"To a certain extent it's a mystery," says Mr Poley. "There may be multiple
reasons. But around that time, the UK did see the launch of some major alcohol
health warning campaigns."
In 2004 the Drinkaware logo started appearing on beer advertisements. The
labelling of drinks bottles improved to make it clear how many units of alcohol
they contain. And the health dangers of heavy drinking were increasingly
highlighted by the media.
References to "binge drinking" shot up in 2004, according to Dr James Nicholls
of Bath Spa University, who researches the social history of alcohol.
"The media picked up on it around the time that the 2003 Licensing Act was
being introduced - when all the talk was of '24 hour drinking'. And that's when
the whole 'Binge Britain' thing kicked off," he says.
The Daily Mail ran a memorable campaign, featuring images of young women
slumped on pavements and park benches. News stories were peppered with health
warnings from groups like Alcohol Concern, Drinkaware and the Royal College of
Physicians.
"They were very successful at making the health impacts of alcohol a news
story," says Mr Nicholls.
Start Quote
These days most employers are anti-drink
End Quote Graham Page Alcohol industry expert
In reality, 24-hour drinking never took off. The average pub only opened 24
minutes longer after 11pm last orders was abolished, says Nicholls. But it
didn't matter - the headlines had already been written. A new tone had been set
for alcohol reporting. The message was that Britain was out of control.
The negative publicity not only led people to moderate their behaviour, it also
created a new kind of social stigma around being drunk. The ONS survey notes
that people may now be "less inclined to admit to how much they have been
drinking".
Boozing was no longer such a badge of honour. And attitudes in the workplace
began to change too, says Graham Page, an alcohol industry analyst.
"These days most employers are anti-drink. The six o'clock swill has gone in
most places, apart from London," he says.
Cheap booze
Meanwhile, consumer forces were also at work to change our drinking habits
throughout the last decade. Pubs were closing down, duty on beer was rising,
and sales of cheap supermarket wine were rocketing.
The caricature of a "drinker" has slowly morphed - from lager louts downing
pints to girls on the sofa, sipping Pinot Grigio.
It's hard to quantify how each of these micro-trends in pricing has influenced
overall alcohol consumption, says Mr Page, but their net effect is that the
price of a drink as a percentage of spending money is cheaper than ever before.
Alcohol consumption since 1947
So alcohol is cheaper, but we are drinking less of it - a highly improbable
cocktail.
But a look at the longer term picture shows that drinking has been rising
steadily since 1947, and levels are still some way above those in the early
1990s.
So is the latest fall a victory for drink awareness campaigning?
Such celebrations would be premature, says Don Shenker, chief executive of
Alcohol Concern.
"There are still 10 million people drinking above the government's recommended
level. And 1.6 million dependent drinkers. These are the frequent flyers into
hospital, and they are not changing their drinking habits," he says.
"It is very likely that alcohol consumption will rise again once the economy
picks up. So government alcohol policy should ensure alcohol becomes less
affordable permanently, not just in an economic downturn."
The health warnings are here to stay - and rightly so, as hospital admissions
from alcohol continue to rise.
It will be a long time before any recent moves towards healthier drinking will
be felt in NHS wards.