Sunglasses on, wine glasses out

With the warm weather having arrived at last, housewares retailers can expect to enjoy a boost to sales of wine and beer glasses.


According to new findings from Opinium Research, 56% of the population consume alcoholic drinks once a week or more. However, 27% confess that they drink more when the sun comes out.

Opinium calculates that the warmer weather sees the country consume an extra 333m pints of beer and 67m more litres of wine, which equates to an additional £512m spent on beer and an extra £849m on wine.

The top five reasons for people drinking more when the weather warms up are, in order: the evenings are lighter (54%); wanting to make the most of the weather (46%); there are more events in the summer, such as weddings and festivals (47%); to enjoy drinking in the warmer weather (46%); and more frequent get-togethers with friends or family (43%).

Opinium Research discovered that only 6% of Brits drink alcohol to get drunk. Twenty-six per cent drink to complement food, 21% to relieve tension and 36% simply like the taste.