Now we’re panic-buying booze
WITH pubs and bars closed, Britons yesterday piled into the beer aisles of supermarkets, quickly emptying stocks and prompting more pleas to stop panic-buying.
Shoppers turned their attention from loo rolls to alcohol as beer, wines and spirts vanished in hours.
Josh Sweetman posted a photograph on Twitter at 7.20am yesterday of a nearempty drinks section at his l ocal branch of Tesco in
Havant, Hampshire. It had been fully stocked barely an hour earlier.
Similar evidence of stockpiling was visible at supermarkets nationwide – although one shopper noted a pile of Corona beer crates had been left untouched at a store in Silverburn, Glasgow.
Last night, a spokesman for Majestic Wine, which has 200 stores nationwide, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Demand is currently off the scale.
‘In terms of stock, we are reasonably confident t hat supply lines will hold up, but are bringing forward extra inventory originally intended for summer.’
A spokesman for Tesco urged shoppers to use restraint, saying: ‘ There is no need to bulk buy. While there may be a short-term impact on a few products, overall our stock levels are good .’ A spokesman for the British Beer and Pub Association said the amount of beer consumed at home had almost doubled to 100 million pints a week since the coronavirus outbreak began.
The average UK household last year spent £234 on wine, £ 114 on beer and £ 104 on spirits, putting the average weekly household spend on alcohol consumed in the home at £8.70.