British are top European boozers

April 20, 2006: The British are Europe's biggest binge drinkers, consuming more alcohol each time they go out than any other western European country.

That's the findings of a new report from independent market analyst Datamonitor, which reveals that the average British drinker knocks back the equivalent of 2.2 pints of lager on each visit to the pub, compared with just 1.1 pints in abstemious Sweden.

However, people are cutting down on their consumption of alcoholic drinks out of the home: total European on-trade alcohol consumption volumes fell by 0.5 per cent a year between 2000 and 2005, with an especially steep decline in the UK and Germany.