Is the tide finally turning on the British drinking culture?

[Moonpig82]

I’ve not drank in 6 months and I don’t miss it!

Article from the BBC today about Pryzm nightclubs but one of the factors surrounding their closure is how young people are spending their money and time differently, alongside the lack of interest in drinking.

When I was a student it was all about the £1 shots, VodBull, sessions before we went out! 🤢

Our poor livers! Really hope drinking is really not a thing at all when my DC are older.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68295306

I hope so. I'm fed up of being treated like a weirdo for not drinking. I can have a good time on a night out just enjoying the atmosphere and having a dance, with a lemonade. But still there are people in my friendship group who try to make me drink shots - saying it'll help me relax and enjoy myself. I am already! (And, said friends are more than happy to accept a lift home from me..)

It's because they've spent all their pocket money on ketamine and nos.

I think there's some truth to this. It's also why the incidence of teenage pregnancies has fallen. Less contact in the 'meatspace'.

It's because the music played in clubs is utter shite now😄

My children in their 20s definitely do not drink as much as I did at that age .
Fitness is their motivation and COL .

Alcohol use has definitely changed; I think it's a good thing. I remember drinking far too much at a young age, and how people socialise seems to have changed radically.

I see a lot of women in their 40s and 50s hitting the bottle hard. I have stopped myself, just stopped being appealing. More draining

Not sure younger people are healthier, with obesity rates rising. They may not be drinking so much but fast food and drugs are not their friends either.

If you think students don’t drink or smoke weed you’re much mistaken! They wouldn’t go to Pryzm though out of choice. It’s a meat market.

I was in a local bowling club for a family party last weekend.

All the tables round the side, full of those little glasses with drinks with no ice. Everybody sitting around getting drunk (older generation, mainly).

It just looked terribly old fashioned and it struck me that the culture really is changing.

Related to whether teens are replaces alcohol with other substances this is an interesting series https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0gkbr2s/drugs-map-of-britain

I think people's reality is very different in different areas so one person might truly see lits of young people using those cannisters and lots of the cannisters littering the area, then in another area that is not the case.

It might be different in different parts of the country. We live in area with a lot of Indian families and a lot of Muslim families. Drinking isn’t in the culture. My teens and their friends just aren’t interested in it for recreation. The pubs are being replaced with desert lounges largely.

My nieces live in a rural village. They’ve been drinking since they were about fifteen or sixteen and my eldest niece drinks heavily now.

You don't need to know what they are called. When your kicking them into the gutter to stop toddlers from picking them up and putting them in bins in parks, especially on a Sunday afternoon, you can speak about the antisocial and usage side.
We've had massive issues around L1 here in Liverpool. Swarms of teens who know that they can't be moved on by security and attack the police when they used to turn up.

No, I don't think that one article on the BBC sums up what's going on nationwide. Nor do I think the six foot, strapping MN male teens, who are treated as children until they are 25, have the average lifestyle. The loss of pubs and that type of socialising I don't think is a plus. People on here are talking about uni days, but for most people going the pub was about conversation, which was multi generational, just getting out of the house and having a laugh.

Why's that?

I said earlier that music scene has had its day and nothing has really replaced it. The house, rave and dance music that was part of the ecstacy seen of the 80s and 90s. Now the drugs are different and don't go with the music. The likes of weed and ket are not conducive to dancing either.

Conversely, music festivals are as popular as ever but the music is more diverse.

I think it’s sad that so many pubs and clubs are closing. I spent my youth out (and out out) several nights a week. Didn’t even drink that much most nights, just dancing, chatting, meeting new people. Young people now seem kind of stifled and unspontaneous to me.

The clubs are now very very strict on age. It’s kind of a good thing but I have happy memories of going out out at 16 plus. No way now unless you have genuine id of someone who looks very like you.

My raving/dancing days were such fun but I never really drank much. I think it's sad that young people can't let go in that way but maybe they don't want too

Good post

People on here are talking about uni days, but for most people going the pub was about conversation, which was multi generational, just getting out of the house and having a laugh

Good point

I don't see that myself, I just think that live music is more popular than nightclubs and young people are as keen on staying up all night. The young people in my town all seem to be drinking but they choose our local pubs (all have live music, a dj or karaoke on weekends) rather than going into the city to night clubs

I certainly hope so. Less chances of someone getting killed by a drunk driver.

I think the tide is turning.
The younger folk I know done drink anything like what I can relate to when I was young.
They all seem to favour going to the gym and fancies coffees from starbucks

I Do Think A clean living lifestyle is more enticing now, due to social media

Back in the day it was all heroin chic and getting lairy with your mates

I'm astonished that people truly believe clean living, healthy lifestyles etc have taken over.

Drug use has gone through the roof. Drugs violence has gone through the roof. Gangs, knives, debts, deaths, stabbings, children being coerced and encouraged to deal and to use drugs, children being sexually abused, children being trafficked around the country as drugs mules - I've never seen it as bad as it is now. School dropout rates are huge with massive links to vulnerbale kids, county lines and drugs.

It's absolutely terrifying and the press don't seem to give a fuck.

MDMA use has had a huge resurgence recently, but it's the synthetic opiods that have everyone worried - nitazenes, fentanyl derivatives, so-called SCRAs which people think are cannabis alternatives but which are much more dangerous than a joint will ever be, unknown substances that people buy thinking it's one thing when it's a dangerous thing chemical compound...

Cocaine use is so common that the military are struggling to retain people because they are getting coked up on a weekend with their mates as it's cheaper than it is to have a few pints.

The kids are not alright.

The (few) university-going people I know don't drink when they go out, but do take drugs like MDMA and cocaine. They see drinking as a thing that old fogeys do.