De-Loyde, Katie and Ferrar, Jennifer and Pilling, Mark A and Hollands, Gareth J and Clarke, Natasha and Matthews, Joe A and Maynard, Olivia M and Wood, Tiffany and Heath, Carly and Munafò, Marcus R and Attwood, Angela S (2024) The impact of introducing alcohol-free beer options in bars and public houses on alcohol sales and revenue: a randomised crossover field trial. Addiction, Early online, https://doi.org/10.1111/add.16449.
External website: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.16...
AIMS: The study aimed to estimate the impact of introducing a draught alcohol-free beer, thereby increasing the relative availability of these products, on alcohol sales and monetary takings in bars and pubs in England.
DESIGN: Randomised crossover field trial in England. Fourteen venues that did not previously sell draught alcohol-free beer.
INTERVENTION AND COMPARATOR: Venues completed two intervention periods and two control periods in a randomised order over 8 weeks. Intervention periods involved replacing one draught alcoholic beer with an alcohol-free beer. Control periods operated business as usual.
MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was mean weekly volume (in litres) of draught alcoholic beer sold. The secondary outcome was mean weekly revenue [in GBP (£)] from all drinks. Analyses adjusted for randomised order, special events, season and busyness.
FINDINGS: The adjusted mean difference in weekly sales of draught alcoholic beer was -20 L [95% confidence interval (CI) = -41 to +0.4], equivalent to a 4% reduction (95% CI = 8% reduction to 0.1% increase) in the volume of alcoholic draught beer sold when draught alcohol-free beer was available. Excluding venues that failed at least one fidelity check resulted in an adjusted mean difference of -29 L per week (95% CI = -53 to -5), equivalent to a 5% reduction (95% CI = 8% reduction to 0.8% reduction). The adjusted mean difference in weekly revenue was +61 GBP per week (95% CI = -328 to +450), equivalent to a 1% increase (95% CI = 5% decrease to 7% increase) when draught alcohol-free beer was available.
CONCLUSIONS: Introducing a draught alcohol-free beer in bars and pubs in England reduced the volume of draught alcoholic beer sold by 4% to 5%, with no evidence of the intervention impacting net revenue.
B Substances > Alcohol
B Substances > Alcohol > Alcohol-related product (No/lo / zero / low drinks)
G Health and disease > Public health
L Social psychology and related concepts > Physical context, location or place > Alcohol beverage sales outlet (shop / pub / bar)
MP-MR Policy, planning, economics, work and social services > Economic aspects of substance use (cost / pricing)
VA Geographic area > Europe > United Kingdom > England
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