Latest news with #drinkingCulture
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
How inflation is killing off the pint
Nothing is as emblematic of Britain's drinking culture as the pint. For hundreds of years, the imperial measure has been served in the nation's pubs. Yet as inflation pushes the price of a pint to record highs, smaller servings are increasingly being poured across the country. Pub owners say they are selling more beer in so-called 'schooner' glasses, which hold two thirds of a pint, because drinkers are striving to keep the cost of a night out under control. 'Nowadays, two thirds are becoming a little bit more popular in general, regardless of what the beer style is,' says Gabor Csupity, of the Friendship Pub Company, which runs a string of pubs in London. 'I think there is a simple answer to [why] which is the price of beer.' It raises the question: could the pint be facing extinction in Britain's pubs? Rise of the £8 pint The cost of a pint has soared across Britain in recent years, with the average rising above £5 nationally for the first time this year. In many pubs it is already pushing £7. In London, £8 pints are not uncommon. Hospitality companies have had to grapple with surging energy bills and skyrocketing labour costs – including higher National Insurance (NI) bills levied on them by Rachel Reeves in her maiden Budget – making price rises inevitable. Big chains such as JD Wetherspoon have been able to keep their prices lower by using their scale to leverage better deals with brewers. But most smaller groups and independent pubs have been forced to pay a much higher price to keep the beer flowing.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Yahoo
This US State Drinks More Alcohol Than The Rest Of The Country (And It Isn't Texas Or Florida)
It might surprise you to learn that the U.S. doesn't even list among the top 15 countries when it comes to the amount of alcohol per person, per year, that gets consumed (the no. 1 country used to be Zimbabwe but is now more likely Romania). Still, there is a strong drinking culture in America, with over 62,000 bars and nightclubs, and alcohol serving as the focal point for many family and holiday gatherings, like green mimosas on St. Patrick's Day or popping Champagne on New Year's Eve. But only one state in the union can stake its claim as that which drinks more alcohol than the rest of the country per capita — and it's surprisingly not fun-loving Texas or Florida; in fact, we bet you'll never guess. It's actually New Hampshire. This tiny state, tucked away in the northeast corner of the country, actually has the highest rate of alcohol consumption, at 4.43 gallons of booze per person per year. While the state has fairly stringent alcohol laws on the books, including a total government monopoly on the sales of liquor and wine, it sells that booze tax-free, making New Hampshire a destination for out-of-staters looking for cheap bottles. It must also have at least some influence on the state's highest-in-the-nation alcohol consumption rate, too. Coming in second and third are Delaware, with 4.4 gallons per year, per person, and Washington, D.C., at just over 4 gallons. On the low end, there is Utah, where strict alcohol laws and a strong religious culture contribute to its meager 1.3 gallons per individual. Read more: 6 Inexpensive Tequilas To Buy And 6 To Avoid, According To Bartender The states with the highest total alcohol consumption aren't likely to be quite as surprising, but here they are: California comes in at number one with nearly 90 million gallons consumed according to data from 2021, which is no surprise considering both its huge population of nearly 40 million (making it the most-populous state in the country) and its less restrictive liquor laws concerning where you can buy alcohol. Texas, the second-most populated state with a population of over 30 million, also came in second place that same year, with almost 60 million gallons imbibed. And Florida, the third-largest state by population with an estimated over 23 million inhabitants, also came in third for total alcohol drunk, with just over 55 million gallons. The lowest-by-volume drinking states follow the same pattern. Second-smallest by population, Vermont, which contains an estimated 648,000 people, only consumed 1.7 million gallons, despite abutting New Hampshire, with its tax-free booze. Meanwhile, the even less densely populated Wyoming, home to just 587,000, drank just 1.4 million. That means Californians drank about 63 times more booze! Want more food knowledge? Sign up to our free newsletter where we're helping thousands of foodies, like you, become culinary masters, one email at a time. Read the original article on Food Republic.
Telegraph
15-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Sober karaoke on the rise as Gen Z ditch booze
Young people who shun alcohol are driving a boom in 'sober karaoke', putting them at odds with older generations who typically only sing after a few drinks. Charlie Elek, chief executive of Britain's biggest chain of karaoke bars Lucky Voice, said he had seen an increase Gen Z eschewing booze during their singing sessions – breaking with the popular image of karaoke as a late night activity only undertaken when the pubs have shut. He said 8pm was now the most popular time for bookings, compared to 10pm 'back in the day', because of a shift in drinking culture. 'Back in the day we were very much about post-pub activity. People would feel the need to have five drinks before coming to Lucky Voice. With Gen Z not not drinking the same ways that we used to, that that has changed over time,' he said. He said that older people were still drinking more ahead of karaoke sessions. 'There's definitely some people who feel – it's an older generation – that, 'well, I'm not going to do karaoke until I have about five pints'. 'There's something kind of more guarded about the older generations.' It comes amid a broader shift away from traditional pubs in terms of where younger people socialise. While Britain's pub industry has suffered many closures in recent years, so-called 'competitive socialising' venues offering activities like karaoke, axe throwing and shuffleboard have become more popular. Younger people in particular are cutting down on alcohol – with many now going completely teetotal. In a survey by Kantar last year, 59pc of Gen Z – which are defined as people born in or after 1997 – claimed not to have drunk any alcohol in the last 12 months. Mr Elek said this meant the chain was having to cater to a 'different type of customer'. 'They do come earlier,' he said. 'We have had to work a lot on our low & no [alcohol] menu, and that's getting really big pick up.' Founded in 2005 by Martha Lane Fox, the Baroness of Soho and her business partners Julian Douglas and Nick Thistleton, Lucky Voice is Britain's biggest chain dedicated exclusively to karaoke. It runs five bars in London and one in Brighton. As drinking habits have changed, the chain has also begun taking more corporate bookings and hosting more parties for children. The business pulled in its best Christmas on record in 2024, with sales rising 17pc compared with the prior year. However, as well as seeing a rise in sober karaoke, Mr Elek said he had noticed some customers staying out later on Sundays and week nights because they are working from home and do not have to go into the office the next day. He said: 'There's just a slight different attitude from the days where everyone was working five days a week and you knew that you were going to be at desk at 8:30am.'
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sober karaoke on the rise as Gen Z ditch booze
Young people who shun alcohol are driving a boom in 'sober karaoke', putting them at odds with older generations who typically only sing after a few drinks. Charlie Elek, chief executive of Britain's biggest chain of karaoke bars Lucky Voice, said he had seen an increase Gen Z eschewing booze during their singing sessions – breaking with the popular image of karaoke as a late night activity only undertaken when the pubs have shut. He said 8pm was now the most popular time for bookings, compared to 10pm 'back in the day', because of a shift in drinking culture. 'Back in the day we were very much about post-pub activity. People would feel the need to have five drinks before coming to Lucky Voice. With Gen Z not not drinking the same ways that we used to, that that has changed over time,' he said. He said that older people were still drinking more ahead of karaoke sessions. 'There's definitely some people who feel – it's an older generation – that, 'well, I'm not going to do karaoke until I have about five pints'. 'There's something kind of more guarded about the older generations.' It comes amid a broader shift away from traditional pubs in terms of where younger people socialise. While Britain's pub industry has suffered many closures in recent years, so-called 'competitive socialising' venues offering activities like karaoke, axe throwing and shuffleboard have become more popular. Younger people in particular are cutting down on alcohol – with many now going completely teetotal. In a survey by Kantar last year, 59pc of Gen Z – which are defined as people born in or after 1997 – claimed not to have drunk any alcohol in the last 12 months. Mr Elek said this meant the chain was having to cater to a 'different type of customer'. 'They do come earlier,' he said. 'We have had to work a lot on our low & no [alcohol] menu, and that's getting really big pick up.' Founded in 2005 by Martha Lane Fox, the Baroness of Soho and her business partners Julian Douglas and Nick Thistleton, Lucky Voice is Britain's biggest chain dedicated exclusively to karaoke. It runs five bars in London and one in Brighton. As drinking habits have changed, the chain has also begun taking more corporate bookings and hosting more parties for children. The business pulled in its best Christmas on record in 2024, with sales rising 17pc compared with the prior year. However, as well as seeing a rise in sober karaoke, Mr Elek said he had noticed some customers staying out later on Sundays and week nights because they are working from home and do not have to go into the office the next day. He said: 'There's just a slight different attitude from the days where everyone was working five days a week and you knew that you were going to be at desk at 8:30am.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Guardian
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘They tell you every minor inconvenience': bartenders on which generation has the worst behavior
Gen Z are used to headlines about the things they've 'killed': writing in cursive, getting their driver's licenses, knowing how printers work, wearing skinny jeans. Their latest offense, according to a recent New York Times article: opening bar tabs. Bartenders and drinkers alike spoke to the Times about young people's hesitancy to leave their credit cards behind the bar, instead preferring to close out and pay after every single drink – no matter how many rounds they order. The piece sparked conversations on TikTok and Reddit about gen Z bar etiquette, which some call nearly irredeemable. 'Working a bar that is almost exclusively Gen Z, we stopped opening tabs altogether because they're so bad at even remembering they have a card,' one person wrote on r/bartenders. But does gen Z have the worst bar etiquette? The Guardian spoke to bartenders across the US about which generation behaves best and discovered that younger folks aren't the horrible customers so many trend pieces set them up to be. Older drinkers often have worse manners – and they don't have the excuse of inexperience to let them off the hook. Michaela Giunchigliani works in Sonoma, California, at a boutique winery where she serves people of all ages. 'By far the most challenging, stressful, taxing – and I say this with love – are the boomers,' Giunchigliani said. 'I find that boomers [roughly those aged between 60 and 80] keep this keen eye on any little thing that they can glob onto and say: 'Well, you didn't bend over backwards for me.' Gen Z doesn't have that same entitlement.' Rachel Phelps, a bartender in Pittsburgh, agreed that the '50-plus' crowd wins the distinction of most demanding. 'They're going to want to pick where they sit, and they're going to tell you every minor inconvenience. I used to work at a bar that didn't have air conditioning, and it was always my fault, according to them.' Gen Z, meanwhile, isn't nearly as fussy. 'If I just perform like the bare minimum of what I'm expected to do, we're good,' Giunchigliani said. Since the legal drinkers of gen Z haven't experienced bar culture for that long (the oldest in the cohort are 28) many of them don't know or care about certain bar rituals. Chloe Richards, who tends bar at dives in Brooklyn and Queens, New York, said gen Z is blissfully ignorant of 'buybacks', the old saloon tradition of getting a free drink or shot after a few rounds. (In 2019, the New York Post eulogized the ritual, saying gentrification and higher rents killed it off.) But 'old heads', as Richards calls her gen X-and-up patrons, come in expecting the quid pro quo. 'They think that after every three drinks, I'm supposed to give them a free one,' Richards said. 'That's not a real thing or a hard rule: it's a privilege. If you're a good customer or a patron, of course, but I don't owe anybody free anything.' Bartenders also said gone are the days when the youngest drinkers wind up the most wasted by the end of the night. Gen Z came of age during a seismic shift in drinking culture: they're imbibing much less than previous generations. This means the getting-sloshed baton falls to an older crowd. 'People in their late 30s to early 40s usually have higher tabs, but it comes at a cost,' said Dimitri Gellis, who manages the Chicago sports bar Fatpour Tap Works. 'They think they can still drink like they're in their 20s, but they can't hang. They'll order whiskey on the rocks like pros, but after a few they're holding onto the wall and they don't take it well when you cut them off.' Gen Z may be drinking less, but that doesn't mean their bar hangs can't last for hours – even if they don't keep ordering. 'Something that drives me fucking nuts is when they get like one drink and use that as an excuse to sit at the bar for five hours,' said a Brooklyn bartender who goes by Priz. 'Why go to a bar? One drink is not access to unlimited space at a place. You have to do a little more.' Gen Z's anxiety manifests at the bar counter, too: some of them haven't yet nailed the quickest way to order a round. 'What's most annoying to me is when people order their drinks one by one when they're in a group, especially when they all have to think about it,' Richards said. 'For me it's like, let's get it going, because you're slowing down the process. Get it together first before you get my attention.' Most bartenders say they understand why gen Z has a hard time in bars. Many spent formative going-out years in the wake of Covid restrictions. 'They're learning how to do this a bit later than the rest of us did,' Richards said. She gets it, but also that inexperience can mess with her tips. 'I think young people are just guessing numbers,' Richards said. Ultimately, bartenders say that there's no magic age for an ideal patron – their work headaches come from people of all generations. Phelps, the Pittsburgh bartender, added that overall, gen Z's looking for 'experiences' on nights out – it's not really about drinking anymore. In some ways, that makes them easier to serve. 'They want to look cute and take pictures,' she said. 'The sloppy behavior is just not there the way it was for us when we were younger. It's definitely better for the people behind the bar. But also, I'm always like, 'Have some fun! Do something stupid.''
