Alcohol sales fall in 2020 as pubs and restaurants faced closures

Increase in home drinking only partly makes up for drop in sales

David Morgan, supervisor at The Borough pub in Cardiff, puts glasses on top of the beer taps ahead of closing for two weeks as pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes are forced to stop selling alcohol and shut by 6pm as part in Wales’s coronavirus restrictions that came into force on Friday 4 December. (Ben Birchall/PA)

Alcohol sales fell in 2020 in the UK despite a rise in home drinking during the lockdown and other coronavirus restrictions.

Beer sales fell 10%, while wine sales dropped 5%, according to a report due to be published in the next few weeks.

Despite fears by health professionals that alcohol consumption could have increased while Brits remained at home, the annual market report by the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) will show that the closure of pubs and restaurants and a rising interest in non-alcoholic drinks dragged down the industry in 2020.

“It’s a myth that people are drinking more during lockdown,” the WSTA’s chief executive, Miles Beale, said in a press release. 

“With so many pubs and restaurants being forced to close their doors and large gatherings banned people are not drinking as much as they would be in normal circumstances," he said.

WSTA said retailers have enjoyed a boom in alcohol sales during the pandemic, with the sales of specific spirits, like gin and flavoured gin, shooting up 22% and breaking the £1 billion mark for the first time.

But including figures from the hospitality sector even gin sales have dipped in 2020.

Brits spent £2.2 billion on gin in the year to October 2020 compared to £2.6 billion during the same period in 2019.

“It’s been a really tough year for everyone – as people, we’re social by our very nature, so being stuck at home for so much of the year has been really difficult, but with the vaccine roll-out gathering pace, there’s reason to be optimistic,” Rob Curteis, Group Marketing Director for Quintessential Brands, said in a press release.

“Hopefully it won’t be too much longer before we can come together again properly in the hospitality venues that are such an important part of British life.”

During the summer, Google said it observed a five-fold increase in searches for beer delivery.

The higher number of searches translated into significant jumps in sales for online alcohol retailers. In April, beer and wine supplier Rebellious Goods reported a 1,000 per cent increase in sales and its online business saw the average spend increase to £60 from £20.