The public health lobby has called for off-licence hours to be cut to 10am-10pm, the reintroduction of the duty escalator, minimum unit pricing of 50p and tighter regulations on alcohol advertising. The justification for this fresh list of demands is a study it commissioned from Sheffield University, titled Alcohol and Cancer Trends. The modelling study was done in 2016 and argues that minimum unit pricing…

The soaring popularity of gin and fruit cider has been cemented as the Office for National Statistics including the drinks in the virtual basket it uses to measure inflation. Recent additions have included craft beer and e-cigarettes, and it is a symbolic moment for gin, which has gone from mother’s ruin to the UK’s trendiest drink over the past five years. Sales are soaring: off-trade…

Consumers appear to favour a night in with a cream liqueur over a visit to a nightclub, according to the updated basket of goods used to measure consumer prices. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has added cream liqueur to the basket of goods used to calculate inflation for the first time, along with other popular ‘at home’ items such as coffee pods, while night…

The soaring popularity of craft beer and e-cigarettes has been recognised by the Office for National Statistics, which added them to the virtual shopping basket it uses to measure UK inflation. Every year the ONS alters the basket to keep pace with changing spending habits. The statisticians decided to include craft beer for 2015 because “speciality beers and ales are currently extremely fashionable”. They added…