Brits have a huge problem with alcohol

[SteveLpool]

AIBU to think that this country has a particularly acute problem with boozing, alcohol, drinking (whatever you call it) compared to our peers in Europe and the rest of the world?

I've worked and travelled abroad quite a lot and i never had the issues i am having now being back at home in the UK with regards to being the odd one out at a bar or a pub just because I'm not having alcohol.

Sometimes a few of us will get together after work and I'll have a diet coke or even a soda water and lime.. when my choice of drink is known ("is there vodka in that????") there becomes an aura of uncomfortableness (if that is even a word) like I've committed a crime.. soon afterwards the comments come..

"what's in that?"
"why arnt you drinking"
"are you a lightweight"
"just have a couple"

I have a theory of why this is for Brits in particular.. We as a people are quite emotionally & socially reserved therefore inhibitions MUST be lowered to have any form of good time..

The med countries for example like Italy and Spain have more of a coffee wine bar culture because they are quite outgoing and introverted.

For the record I'm not against alcohol, I'm big on my fitness and gym and I'm not prepared to ruin my gains for a few hours in a dingy British pub.. I save my boozing for when i go away on holiday.

I feel like people are much more accepting if you don't drink at all than if you don't drink very much. Two drinks is my absolute maximum, otherwise I just get sleepy and unsociable, and I quite often have only one or none. People sometimes seem either surprised or actually annoyed by that, especially when they realise I don't drive so that's not the reason. I like to drink sparkling mineral water when I'm out and don't want to drink, as it's so fizzy I can only drink it slowly and don't end up sitting there with nothing to drink, making the beer drinkers feel awkward.

I've lived in Italy and Greece as a young person and been part of Italian and Greek groups of friends.

Everyone enjoyed a drink but there was just no idea that getting so drunk you feel ill is in anyway a good thing.

People were just very relaxed socially and I don't think needed to get plastered to enjoy themselves.

There were large groups of friends and acquaintances- everyone would "be out" in the evenings and you didn't make plans you just went out and you knew your friends and acquaintances would be in the usual place.

I think it's the weather too. If you're a young Greek person the cafe adopted by you and your friends is like an extension of yours sitting room at home. You spend as much time there as at home (and you'll probably be living with your mum and dad till you're 30 so it's important to have your own space out and about).

Just a totally different way of socialising.

"In all the large cities I have visited around the world it’s only in British ones where I have seen scenes like that photo of Manchester late on a Friday/Saturday night."

Such scenes do happen here in Belgium. However, it's not every weekend but during a town's annual festival or a similarly big occasion. I saw vomit at the bus stop a few weeks ago at 2am. It was NYE.

"There were large groups of friends and acquaintances- everyone would "be out" in the evenings and you didn't make plans you just went out and you knew your friends and acquaintances would be in the usual place."

This happens in smaller places in the UK too.

My next door neighbour (early 60s) used to walk to the supermarket after he finished work every evening to buy 4 cans of beer, he had a drinking problem and didn't trust himself to have any more than that in the house. Then one day his wife woke up find him lying dead next to her in bed. Heart attack.

Yeah alcohol is a bit passe for a lot of young ppl I think. They're more likely to be off their tits on laughing gas and Xanax, or whatever new psychedelics are being flogged on the dark web.

Plus with all this ask 25 business, having to show your passport in Sainsbury's to buy a bottle of wine, perhaps it's harder for them to get it now. No one asks for id when you're buying drugs so maybe that's a factor too.

Trust me, they hadn't.

The UK being unique in its binge culture is often exaggerated, but even if it's true the rate of excessive drinking in young people is plummeting. To them it's expensive and uncool.

Lol, a classic MN retort, are you all bots or something?