The dangers of British drinking habits have been well catalogued throughout history. Ancient Brits would drink to oblivion at feasts. In the Middle Ages, men, women and children drank beer because it was safer than water.
By the 17th century, ale was seen as a drink for commoners while wine was for their superiors.
Tobias Whitaker extolled the virtues of wine in 1638. Wine drinkers were: “Faire, fresh, plumpe, and fat.” Beer drinkers, on the other hand: “Look like Apes.”
A century later, beer was viewed as the healthy during what became a gin epidemic.
Gin was cheap and easy to produce. A dram cost a penny and was available at almost 7000 gin shops in the city of London. The tradesman's slogan was: “Drunk for one penny, dead drunk for two.” Pharmacists sold it to women to “soothe the nerves” and it became known as Mother's Ruin.
A campaign leaflet of the period described ae gin den: “In one place not far from East Smithfield, a trader has a large empty room where, as his wretched guests get intoxicated, they are laid together in heaps, men, women and children, until they recover their senses, when they proceed to drink on, or having spent all they had, go out to find the means to return to the same dreadful pursuit.”
Repeated legislation was introduced to control gin drinking but in 1751 it was estimated that 9000 children in London alone died of alcohol poisoning that year.
Gin rose in price and lost its attraction but alcohol remained a problem, particularly during the Industrial Revolution when living and working conditions drove many to drink. The problems also prompted the rise of the Temperance movement.
Alcohol consumption by factory workers even threatened national security during the First World War when Prime Minister David Lloyd George said Britain was fighting: “Germans, Austrians and Drink and, as far as I can see, the greatest of these foes is Drink.”
He reduced the strength of beer, restricted pub opening times and banned the buying of rounds. I've met a few people during my time at the bar who still drink by Lloyd George rules and have never bought a round in their life.
The alcohol debate continues today. Health experts recommend men should drink no more than 21 units of alcohol a week, which is 10 and a half pints of ordinary strength beer. No more than four units – two pints – in any one day, and have at least two alcohol free days a week.
Women should have less: no more than 14 units a week and no more than three units a day – that's two small glasses of wine – and also have at least two alcohol free days a week.
How does your consumption rate?
