Pubs are open again but I don’t seem to be able to drink anymore – anyone else struggling?

Pre-Covid, I would feel on relatively safe ground if I drank three pints on a weeknight. Not anymore, writes Rupert Hawksley

Pubs re-opened last Monday, as lockdown restrictions eased (Getty)

You might remember the government’s “Know Your Limits” campaign, launched in 2006 to try and persuade people to drink a little bit less. One suspects it didn’t have much impact – in Britain, we like a drink and tend to stubbornly subscribe to the “Push Your Limits” approach when setting foot in a pub. Still, one wonders if it would perhaps be wise for the government to briefly resurrect its campaign with a slight tweak: “Know Your New Limits”.

Pubs, as you know, have been shut for the best part of a year, only reopening last Monday. It follows, then, that our tolerance for alcohol should have been reduced. Or at least pub alcohol. I am pretty sure, based on nothing more than a hunch, that alcohol drunk in the pub has a different effect to alcohol drunk anywhere else. Anyway, that’s besides the point. Pub chat.

Where were we? Tolerance, yes. In the interests of proper journalism, I decided to find out for myself on Thursday evening if lockdown altered the amount we can drink – and I can report that this is indeed so. The rules have been completely rewritten. Now, everyone is different, of course, but pre-Covid, I would feel on relatively safe ground if I drank three pints on a weeknight. Might not sleep brilliantly but could definitely drag myself to the office. Well, three pints absolutely did for me this week (and writing this piece is about the only thing I’ve achieved since).