Alcohol: Home is where the bar is

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Drikers are guzzlig more beer at home tha i pubs ad bars, accordig to a survey by brewers Whitbread.

Accordig to the study, sales of beer from off-liceces ad supermarkets grew by 2 per cet last year, reflectig a tred towards drikig at home already see i the US ad Australia.

Not suprisigly, the market's peak for 1996 was durig the Euro 96 football champioships i Jue, whe take-home sales saw a 46 per cet icrease.

Altogether, take-home beer sales i Britai totalled pouds 2,593m i 1996, equivalet to 9.1m barrels. The report places Tesco at the top of the retail league, with a 10 per cet share of the market, followed by Saisbury's o 7 per cet.

So-called "premium" lagers are said to be the best-sellig beers, with Stella Artois i the top slot for sales, holdig 27 per cet of the market, equivalet to pouds 144m.