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 spirits vanished in hours.

Josh Sweetman posted a photograph on Twitter at 7.20am yesterday of a nearempty drinks section at his local 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.

At Tesco at Linwood, Renfrewshire, beer aisles shelves were also stripped bare.

Last night, a spokesman for Majestic Wine, which has 200 stores nationwide, said: ‘Demand is currently off the scale.

‘In terms of stock, we are reasonably confident 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 shortterm impact on a few products, overall our stock levels are good.’

The British Beer and Pub Association said the amount of beer consumed at home had almost doubled to 100million 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.