Talking Retail Grocery and product news for independent retailers
One study found that the pandemic and related restrictions were associated with a 6% reduction in the total volume of pure alcohol sold per adult in Scotland and in England and Wales. However, despite the overall reduction in alcohol sales, weekly averages – 17.5 units per adult in Scotland, and 16.7 in England and Wales – remained in excess of the UK chief medical officers’ guideline of 14 units per week.
The study shows per adult sales through the off-trade increased for most drink categories.
In addition, researchers from the University of Sheffield found that all measures of self-reported off-trade consumption in both Scotland and England increased during the initial period of the Covid-19 restrictions. In Scotland off-trade units of alcohol per week increased by 21% (2.4 units), and units per occasion increased by 29% (1.1 units).
Grant Wyper, public health intelligence adviser at Public Health Scotland, said: “We know that the pandemic has wider impacts on individuals’ health other than those that occur as the direct result of infection. This includes the indirect effects of interventions to control Covid-19 that have affected opportunities to buy alcohol, whilst also impacting on many people’s personal, social, and economic circumstances.”
