Gen Z is changing Britain’s drinking culture — and that’s worth celebrating

Published 2 November 2026

For generations, drinking alcohol has been treated as almost automatic in British social life. But younger adults are quietly changing the rules — and the rise of no and low alcohol choices might be one of the healthiest cultural shifts we’ve seen in years.

Going to the pub and ordering a 0% beer should not require an explanation. Neither should choosing a mocktail, driving home, having one drink instead of six, taking a month off or simply saying, “I’m not drinking tonight.”

Increasingly, younger adults seem comfortable making exactly those choices. Not because every member of Gen Z is sober — they certainly aren’t — but because alcohol is becoming less compulsory.

The numbers show something really is changing

Drinkaware’s 2025 research found that among UK drinkers aged 18 to 34, the proportion using alcohol-free or low-alcohol drinks to moderate their drinking had risen from 28% in 2018 to 49% in 2025. That was the largest increase of any age group.

There is a wider shift too. Health Survey for England figures reported by Drinkaware show that in 2024, adults aged 16 to 24 were the age group most likely to be non-drinkers in England, with 35% not drinking alcohol.

Those numbers don’t mean Britain has suddenly produced an entirely sober generation. They do suggest something more interesting: choosing not to drink, or choosing to drink less, is becoming increasingly normal.

No and low alcohol is no longer the sad option at the back of the fridge

Not long ago, asking for an alcohol-free beer could feel like requesting a punishment drink. Choice was limited, the branding was often uninspiring and plenty of venues treated non-drinkers as an afterthought.

That world is changing. Alcohol-free beers, ciders, wines, spirits and cocktails are far more visible, and younger customers are helping drive demand for them.

Drinkaware found that 44% of UK drinkers were using no or low alcohol products to moderate in 2025, up from 31% in 2018. When almost half of younger adult drinkers are using them to moderate, pubs, bars, restaurants and retailers have a pretty good reason to take the category seriously.

Maybe the biggest change is social permission

The interesting part isn’t only what is in the glass. It is the growing idea that you are allowed to choose what goes in it.

British culture has traditionally been very good at turning “no thanks” into the opening round of a negotiation. Why aren’t you drinking? Are you driving? Are you ill? Are you doing Dry January? Go on, just have one.

That pressure hasn’t vanished. But every person who confidently orders an alcohol-free drink makes the next person’s choice a little less unusual.

And that deserves celebrating. Nobody should need a dramatic backstory to justify not drinking alcohol.

Fitness, money and better mornings all matter

There does not have to be one grand reason for drinking less. For some people it is about health or fitness. For others it is the gym, sport, work, driving, saving money, avoiding a hangover or simply wanting Saturday morning to remain part of the weekend.

Drinkaware’s research says motivations for choosing no and low options include health, curiosity, taste, wanting to reduce alcohol intake and practical reasons such as needing to drive.

That variety matters because it moves the conversation away from the idea that alcohol-free choices belong only to people who have experienced a serious problem with alcohol.

You can choose a 0% beer because you’re in recovery. You can choose one because you’re training tomorrow. You can choose one because you’re skint. You can choose one because you prefer it. All of those answers are valid.

But let’s not pretend every young person has stopped drinking

Celebrating the shift does not mean pretending the story is simpler than it is.

Drinkaware has also found that young adults who do drink can still drink heavily. Its research on 18 to 24-year-olds found that young adult drinkers were more likely to binge drink than drinkers aged 25 and over.

So “Gen Z doesn’t drink” makes a catchy headline, but it isn’t really true. A better story is that younger adults appear to be expanding the choices available around alcohol. Some don’t drink. Some drink occasionally. Some alternate alcoholic and alcohol-free drinks. Some are cutting down. And some still drink heavily.

Progress does not require pretending the complicated bits aren’t there.

Society should meet young people halfway

If younger adults are helping make moderation normal, our communities and social spaces should make that easier rather than harder.

A pub can still be a pub while offering genuinely good alcohol-free choices. A birthday can still be a birthday without everybody drinking. A first date does not have to involve alcohol. A night out can still end with terrible dancing even if somebody remembers all of it the next morning.

The goal should not be to replace one set of rules with another. Nobody needs to shame people who choose to drink. We should simply get rid of the assumption that everybody has to.

This is exactly the kind of culture Sober Society wants to support

Sober Society isn’t only for people who identify as sober or who are in recovery. It is also for people who are sober curious, cutting down, taking a break, choosing alcohol-free options for fitness or wellbeing, supporting somebody else, or simply deciding that alcohol isn’t for them.

That is why the app combines progress tracking, money and calorie savings, events, useful tools and a community where different reasons for drinking less can exist alongside one another.

You don’t have to earn the right to drink less. And you don’t need to explain why you’ve chosen the alcohol-free option.

Here’s to having a choice

Perhaps that is what we should celebrate most about this younger generation’s relationship with alcohol: not abstinence for everybody, but choice without embarrassment.

If the next generation grows up in a Britain where ordering a 0% beer is as unremarkable as ordering a regular one, where “I’m not drinking tonight” ends the conversation instead of starting an interrogation, and where socialising doesn’t automatically mean getting drunk, that sounds like progress.

Not anti-alcohol. Not anti-pub. Just pro-choice, pro-community and very much in favour of waking up without wondering where your bank card went.