Drinking habits in Lockdown - Part I

Opinium conducted research on behalf of Drinkaware, surveying 2,001 nationally representative UK adults aged 18 and between 5-7th May, 2020.

The survey investigated how drinking habits have changed since the lockdown began and the impact of work status. Specifically, the impact of being furloughed.

Results

As the country approached its seventh week of lockdown, drinking habits had changed for some.

• Just under one-quarter of UK adults (24%) reported drinking more since lockdown, with 17% of UK adults drinking less.
• A fifth (22%) of drinkers had alcohol on days they wouldn’t usually.
• Whereas 18% said they had not had a drink in situations that they would normally.

Many of those who had been furloughed had also changed their drinking habits with one in three (36%) drinking more since lockdown began.

Of those who were furloughed and drank:

• More than a quarter (28%) said they were drinking on days they wouldn’t usually since lockdown began.
• One in seven (15%) had their first drink earlier in the day since the start of lockdown.
• One in ten (9%) said they had a drink in secret or covered up the fact they were having a drink since lockdown began. This was almost double both the UK average and of those working from home as a result of lockdown; with 5% of both groups say they have had a drink in secret.

The impact of being furloughed and changing drinking habits was raising concern for some, but not for all:

• One in ten (11%) felt concerned because another member of their household was drinking more during lockdown.
• However, 14% said that although another member of their household was drinking more during lockdown, they were not concerned.

As well as drinking habits changing, purchasing habits also changed for some:

• 22% had bought alcohol online as part of their normal shop when they wouldn’t have done so before the lockdown.
• Furthermore, 8% had bought alcohol in bulk in store and 8% had bought alcohol from off licenses when they wouldn’t have done so before.

Next Steps

Drinkaware conducted another wave of research in July with Opinium. View the results here.