Dry Jan is formally lifeless as Brits started shopping for booze once more simply 12 days in
Supermarkets renamed January 12 ‘damp Monday’ as that was when most shoppers decided to start stocking up on alcohol again and turn their backs on a booze-free month
We didn’t last two weeks before giving in(Image: Getty Images)
Dry January was a washout as fed-up folk started adding beers and wine back into their baskets half way through the month.
Supermarkets renamed January 12 ‘damp Monday’ as that was the day most decided to start pouring tipples again. Sales of wines, beers and spirits soared by 11% compared to the week before, Waitrose data revealed.
The supermarket said it had seen a “significant softening” of the dry January trend over the last five years. Alcohol sales in January 2022 were 42% lower than other months of the year, but this had fallen to just a 25% drop this January.
Pierpaolo Petrassi, head of beers, wines and spirits at Waitrose, said: “Damp is the new dry, as we’re seeing customers move away from the all-or-nothing mentality. Instead, they’re looking towards more mindful, damp moderation rather than quitting entirely.”
The low and zero-alcohol trend peaked in 2022, as a result of the “pandemic reset”, the expert added. Booze sales also plummeted as the ‘sober curious’ movement went mainstream on social media.
The Spirits Business trade publication found almost two thirds of Brits aimed to cut back on drinking in January. But roughly a third said they would opt for a ‘damp’ approach – reducing intake rather than cutting it out entirely.
It follows reports that Brits are becoming more orderly when waiting to get a drink at the bar. But it’s left pub landlords surprised, who are now left trying to ferry punters around the bar front, but failing to get anywhere.
It also appears that a generational divide is taking hold, as younger people are more likely to queue in single file than older customers.
Despite the bizarre move from youngsters, there may be a pandemic-related reason as to why punters are more frequently queueing in a more orderly fashion. Experts claim queueing is becoming a more “normalised” event in people’s lives.
Paul Loebenberg, who owns the Wolfpack tap-room in north west London, said he was baffled when he saw such behaviour for himself. He said: “I’m not sure what else we can do to be honest; maybe there’s something I’ve missed, but we’ve tried everything. It’s like the one person did it once and since then everyone has followed like lemmings, they all just copy each other’s behaviour.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
