Since giving up alcohol in 2022, I’ve become an enthusiastic advocate for abstinence, though I try not to be preachy about it. But when I look at industry pulling stunts like this, I realise what some people fail to understand about Dry January (and Macmillan’s Sober October, the sponsored initiative which started me on the road to quitting), is that for anyone who’s worried about their drinking, having a whole month during which they have a cast-iron reason to refuse all alcohol is a lifeline — sometimes literally. Taunting them with sub-pound pints, or “Dry Martini January”, when they desperately want not to drink, isn’t clever marketing, it’s cruel.
Does hospitality have an alcohol problem?
