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British drink more while French, Germans sober up

The hard-drinking British increased their consumption of alcohol by 5 percent over the past five years, while the French and Germans were sharply cutting back their intake, market researchers reported yesterday.

They found more young people in mainland Europe were switching to non-alcoholic drinks as part of a drive for healthier lifestyles. But their counterparts in the UK have not yet latched on to the message that fitness goes with sobriety.

The report by Mintel found consumption of alcohol in France dropped by 6 percent over the past five years, with the French downing less than 6 billion liters of beers, wines and spirits last year. In Germany alcohol intake declined by 8 percent over the same period to below 12 billion liters. But in the UK it increased by about 400 liters to top 8 billion liters. In cash terms, spending on alcohol in the UK went up by 15 percent.

Mintel's senior consumer analyst, Hanna Kivimaki, said: "In France and Germany the cultural zeitgeist seems to be moving toward healthier lifestyles and away from alcohol consumption. Many adults, particularly the younger generation, are becoming increasingly health conscious. As a result many have switched partly or entirely to non-alcoholic drinks. Stringent legislation relating to the advertising of alcoholic drinks will also have had an impact on these markets."

British adults were more likely to have drunk alcohol in the past 12 months (88 percent) than the French (86 percent) or Germans (70 percent). Half the British drank at least two or three times a week, compared with only a third of the French and Germans.

The Germans continued to have the biggest intake per head, due partly to a preference for beer over wine. But their average consumption of alcoholic drink fell from 198 liters a year among the over-20s in 1999 to 180 last year. The French average dropped from 146 liters to 133, while the British rose from 174 to 178.

The French love of wine appeared to be waning as sales dropped by 4 percent between 1999 and last year, not including wine sold for export. Wine sales in the UK rose by 23 percent in the same five-year period, while Germany saw a 4 percent rise. Mintel attributed the growing popularity of wine in the UK to rising incomes, more "aspirational" drinking habits and the popularity of wine among women.

The market researchers did not investigate drinking habits to discover whether there was any link between increased consumption and binge drinking which is concerning doctors, politicians and police chiefs.

At least 130,000 pubs, clubs and restaurants are planning to extend their opening hours to midnight during the week and up to 2am at weekends, under proposals to relax the licensing laws from November.

About two-thirds of licensed premises have applied for extended opening. With two weeks to go before the deadline for members of the public to register any opposition with local authorities, there have been few protests and late opening is expected to become the norm in most parts of England and Wales.

The UK's Department of Health said: "There is no evidence from this survey that people are causing harm to themselves or others from the rise in alcohol consumption.

"We are working across government to reduce antisocial behavior connected to binge drinking and also the impact on health of alcohol misuse ... The introduction of the Licensing Act is part of a wider government policy to change people's attitudes to drinking," the department said.
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