AIBU to think daytime alcohol demand points to a wider problem?

[trainboundfornowhere]

I will preempt this by saying I live in Scotland and am basing this on what I’ve seen. I cannot answer for the rest of the uk. 9.15am and I’m in my local supermarket this morning picking up a few bits. I spot my friend who works there putting a bottle of wine back on the shelf and she says that is the third bottle she has had to put back since the shop opened at 7am (Shops can only sell alcohol between 10am-10pm). The customer is complaining about stupid Scottish rules. Monday they refused to sell alcohol to two people mid afternoon who were heavily intoxicated and Tuesday they had to ask someone who was drinking in the foyer to leave. This is sadly something I have noticed not just in that supermarket but others across the city and that this is a snapshot of a wider problem.

Depends if you want to drink it at that ime. If you do your weekly shop before work then you might well want to buy your weekly bottle of wine. That doesn't mean you have an alcohol problem.

This. And don’t forget that with shifts, your early morning g could be someone else’s evening.

Obviously it’s an issue if people are turning up drunk to buy more alcohol, but really only for them and for whoever has to refuse to sell it to them.

I don’t think you can extrapolate out the fact that some people have alcohol problems, and some people buy alcohol at a time of day you don’t like, to there being a much wider alcohol problem in society. I believe that drinking has declined massively among the young, so that points to the problem reducing rather than rising.

Depends who’s buying it. If you’ve just finished a night shift and are picking up some groceries for the following day on your way home to sleep, not a problem. If you’re buying a bottle of something on your way to work because it’s your colleague’s birthday and it will be a gift, not a problem. If 8am just happens to be a convenient time for you to shop for whatever you need later as you walk home from the gym or the school run, not a problem.

Yes, there will also be alcoholics buying at 7am: but restrictions have been in place for a long time and were the result of recognising a social problem.

Buying it in the morning doesn't mean they're going to drink it in the morning.

I’ve been picking up an M&S dine out deal on my way to work and remembered I couldn’t pick up the wine as it was before 10. It’s annoying.

someone drunk and trying to get alcohol is a different issue.

I often pop into the supermarket on my way back from the school run and if I needed a bottle of wine to take to a family dinner, for example, I’d probably try to buy it then without thinking of the time.
Alcoholism is a major health problem and probably will always be with us. It’s challenging for people to address because alcohol is available everywhere. It’s a problem across all elements of society, not only the people you see drinking in the foyer of the supermarket. I had to meet with a couple of architects/property executives several times last year. They covered it well, but after a few meetings I realised they were slightly drunk at 9am every day.

As all the others - when you buy alcohol doesn't equate to when you are going to drink it. I got caught out at Kings X recently - wanted to buy cocktail cans for the second part of my (long) two part train journey. Couldn't as too early. I wouldn't have been drinking them until early afternoon.

I take alcohol histories for work. Alcohol usage has really declined and become quite polarised. Either masses and masses or none at all. I'm late forties and typically drink a couple of glasses of wine one to two nights a week. This isn't normal at all anymore. It's either a couple of glasses of wine at special events (so every two - three months) or ten shots on both Friday and Saturday night.

I often reflect on what young professionals drink vs. what I was drinking in their position twenty years ago (which was a lot lot more). In fact I had a conversation about just this with an accompanying parent who had had the same thought as me! The child thought it was hilarious that two staid middle aged women had been such heavy drinkers.

I’ve had a moan about stupid Scottish rules before now, doing my shopping after the school run and not being able to buy alcohol meaning I needed to go to the shop again later. I certainly don’t have an alcohol problem, but would like to buy alcohol at a time convenient to me.

I quite often go shopping at 7am because the supermarket is empty. By 9am on a Saturday it's crammed.

The intoxicated people is a different matter.

Personally I get a little annoyed that I can't get a pint with my breakfast before 9am in spoons....often I've asked because I've travelled a long way. Want a couple of early pints so when I drive home 9 or 10 hours later it's safe.

I love everything associated with alcohol. The social lubricant it is, the way it makes me feel.

I don't think it's unusual to buy a bottle or something in the morning.

I buy wine with my shopping. If my shopping is done in the morning should i have to go out again in the evening just to get wine?

It's one or the other. I'll probably buy a bottle of wine (or two) when I go shopping tomorrow morning, just because I like to have one in for if the occasion arises. I won't drink it until the weekend, and probably not until next weekend or the one after.

That said, DS works in a small shop and has regular customers in to buy booze at 6am everyday. I doubt they're buying for the weekend.

I used to walk past a Tesco on my way into work. I often used to pop in for snacks or juice and I ALWAYS had a look down the wine aisle to see what offers were on.

My DH worked shifts at the time, so we used to have our weekend nights midweek.

I now work shifts and start at 3am. Whilst I don't drink on my days on, I do on my days off. And because my body clock is now screwed, you will find me having a drink a lot earlier in the day than i used to!

I’ve purchased alcohol on the morning school run before as either gifts or to give with dinner later that evening. Just because I purchase it at 9am doesn’t mean I’m about to crack it open.

It’s normally beer for those starting to drink at 9am.

From seeing the men back and forth early on helps when you hear the shop keeper go another 6 already??

I went to Aldi at 8am and bought a bottle of wine along with my shop, doesn't mind I'm going to drink it now!

I worked permanent nights for three year ,s some times after my last night shift i woukd have a few glasses of wine

I’m an early riser so I quite often do my weekly shop at a 24 hour supermarket at 5am or 6am. Often that would include some wine or beer. It doesn’t mean I’m going to drink it at 7am with my cornflakes.

The rules are bloody annoying. The amount of times I’ve been caught out trying to buy a bottle as a gift when the only convenient time I can get to the store is in the morning!

When me and DH worked hospitality we did day drink at random times mid week. With our other hospitality friends most of the time. I do agree there’s a lot of problem drinkers in Scotland (and personally I don’t think the 10-10 rule addresses the real problems) but some people say drink because of shift work, or they’re stocking up with their big shop.

I agree with the person who mentioned about polarising and it is reflected in the number of younger people who do not drink at all.

I think supermarkets could easily help themselves by having shutters down over the alcohol section when not allowed to sell it.

Many/most do have shutters or at least cordon the aisles off. That’s what’s reminded me when I’ve gone to buy not paying attention to the time so not actually made it to the till to be refused

What is the "wider problem" exactly? As a pp has said, there are lots of actual stats, not 'my friend who works in tesco' that show overall people are drinking less nowadays.

You've heard second hand about 2 instances of people being drunk midday. That's hardly reflective on the other 99.99999% of the population doing the same!

There's no reason why the small amount of people trying to buy alcohol before 10am weren't doing so to drink responsibly, and that was just the time they were doing their weekly shop. I agree with them, it is a stupid rule! If you are an alcoholic starting drinking at 10am rather than 9.59am isn't going to make any difference.

That's interesting, I didn't know that (England).
I often do the regular Aldi shop right after school drop off so 9am ish, and buy wine for the weekend etc

I was one of those people who got turned down last week - in M&S in Edinburgh, no less!!
I was on my way to work, and was buying a leaving gift for one of our team. I was to get flowers and a bottle of fizz for her. It was about 08:30, and I was made to feel like I had a drink problem, by the very Morningside shop assistant! (Had to run out again at lunchtime to get it.....)