AIM: To determine whether alcohol consumption in England had returned to pre-pandemic levels by December 2024, after the initial rise in 2020 across the total population and subgroups.

DESIGN: Monthly representative surveys were conducted through face-to-face interviews until February 2020, and then by telephone.

SETTING: England, March 2014 to December 2024.

PARTICIPANTS: 208 010 adults aged 18+ living in private households.

MEASUREMENTS: Mean weekly alcohol consumption (in UK units), prevalence of risky drinking (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for Consumption [AUDIT-C] score≥5), and possible dependence (AUDIT-C ≥ 11). Further measures included age, gender, and social grade.

FINDINGS: All outcomes increased in April 2020: prevalence of risky drinking by 30.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 26.8, 33.8, from 26.2% in February 2020 to 34.0% in April 2020), prevalence of possible dependence by 90.2% (95% CI: 62.2, 122.9, from 0.9% to 1.7%) and mean weekly alcohol consumption by 34.5% (95% CI: 31.0, 38.0, from 5.0 units to 6.6 units). When adjusting for the survey mode change from face-to-face to telephone interviews, the step changes between February and April 2020 remained but were substantially attenuated. The post-pandemic trend declined more quickly than the pre-pandemic trend for the prevalence of risky drinking (difference: -1.5%/year, 95% CI: -2.4, -0.6) and mean weekly alcohol consumption (difference: -2.4%/year, 95% CI: -3.3, -1.6), indicating a slow but incomplete return to pre-pandemic levels. The trend in prevalence of possible dependence was similarly stable before and after the pandemic (difference: -1.3%/year, 95% CI: -6.2, 3.8). Alcohol consumption declined more slowly among people from less advantaged than from more advantaged social grades.

CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of risky drinking and mean weekly alcohol consumption in England appear to be trending towards pre-pandemic levels but the prevalence of dependent drinking in England appears to have increased since the start of the pandemic and remains elevated compared with pre-pandemic levels. Alcohol-related inequalities may be worsening due to slower declines in consumption following the pandemic among less advantaged drinkers.