# Brits, Alcohol, and the London Underground **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 2008, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342 "2008-06-01T12:35:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/1 "2008-06-01T12:35:39Z")
It seems they have banned alcohol on the tube… do they really allow any food or drink on public transport? Beyond that, what is it about Brits that drives such vast amounts of alcohol. From CNN: > **[London revelers mark drink ban with subway chaos - CNN.com](http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/06/01/london.subway/index.html)** > > London's subway system was engulfed by thousands of revelers Saturday night, marking the introduction of an alcohol ban on the mass transit network. Peter Moore, 35, from Brighton on the southern English coast, told the agency his night was “Drunken, I just downed a can of beer in 10 seconds. It’s sweaty on there but I’m going round and round until I vomit.” And this is fun?? :dubious: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/2 "2008-06-01T12:57:22Z")
[QUOTE=Desert Nomad] It seems they have banned alcohol on the tube… do they really allow any food or drink on public transport? [/quote] Absolutely! If you travel by bus or train long distance, they’ll even serve it. Why shouldn’t you eat or drink on a train? [QUOTE=Desert Nomad] Beyond that, what is it about Brits that drives such vast amounts of alcohol. (snip) “Drunken, I just downed a can of beer in 10 seconds. It’s sweaty on there but I’m going round and round until I vomit.” And this is fun?? :dubious: :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Culture. Groupthink, machismo… an aspect of British culture I’m not particularly fond of, but not immune to either. Fortunately I’m emigrating! Unfortunately, to Australia, where if anything, they drink even more… ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/3 "2008-06-01T13:01:09Z")
[QUOTE=matt] Absolutely! If you travel by bus or train long distance, they’ll even serve it. Why shouldn’t you eat or drink on a train? [/QUOTE] Is the London Underground a long distance train? I honestly don’t know, but it sure sounds like an intra-city commuter line. Does the NY subway system serve food and drinks? I don’t know the answer to that either, but it would surprise me if it did. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/4 "2008-06-01T13:04:59Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Is the London Underground a long distance train? I honestly don’t know, but it sure sounds like an intra-city commuter line. [/QUOTE] No, you got it right. They don’t serve food on the Tube, but you can certainly eat your own! Being considerate and carting your own crap away is important, though. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/5 "2008-06-01T13:11:04Z")
[QUOTE=Desert Nomad] Beyond that, what is it about Brits that drives such vast amounts of alcohol. [/QUOTE] The UK isn’t particularly high on the table of alcohol consumption worldwide. It’s just that our sensationalist press gives far more publicity to drunken louts. Luxembourg are the champion boozers, with 15.5 liters annual alcohol consumption per person. Ireland, Hungary, Moldova, Czech Republic, Germany are also ahead of the UK, with an annual consumption of around 11 liters. The US weighs in at 8.6. (Although if US states were measured individually Nevada would be way up near the top with \>12 liters. [World Alcohol Consumption](http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9325487) [Alcohol Consumption incl. individual US states](http://www.unusualmaps.com/Consumption.html) ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/6 "2008-06-01T13:15:44Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] Luxembourg are the champion boozers, with 15.5 liters annual alcohol consumption per person. Ireland, Hungary, Moldova, Czech Republic, Germany are also ahead of the UK, with an annual consumption of around 11 liters. The US weighs in at 8.6. (Although if US states were measured individually Nevada would be way up near the top with \>12 liters. [/QUOTE] What constitutes a liter of alcohol in those statistics? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/7 "2008-06-01T13:18:08Z")
Do radio stations play “Fight for Your Right to Party” in England? [Rock stations that play "Fight for your Right to Party" in heavy rotation - fuck off - The BBQ Pit - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=469887) ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/8 "2008-06-01T13:28:04Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] What constitutes a liter of alcohol in those statistics? [/QUOTE] Exactly that - a litre of pure alcohol. More than any “booze culture”, this story illustrates the silliness of conducting gesture politics in a nation where cheerful defiance is something of a hobby. But that’s all getting a bit non-GQ. ---
**Author:** ![Seventy-five](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Seventy-five](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seventy-five)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/9 "2008-06-01T13:36:16Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] The UK isn’t particularly high on the table of alcohol consumption worldwide. It’s just that our sensationalist press gives far more publicity to drunken louts. [/QUOTE] Well to be fair it’s not just the press - many other countries simply don’t have drunken louts in the same way we do. I also note that the stats talk about “pure alcohol”, now beer (lager, bitter, mild, ale etc.) is obvioulsy counted but I’d be interested to know if the “breezer” like pre-mixed drinks are. France seem to be only fractionally behind the UK in terms of quantity consumed (rather than ranking) but I’d hazard a guess that a large proportion of this is wine drunk with meals spread throughout the week rather than beer downed quickly on a weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/10 "2008-06-01T13:49:27Z")
[QUOTE=Seventy-five] Well to be fair it’s not just the press - many other countries simply don’t have drunken louts in the same way we do. I also note that the stats talk about “pure alcohol”, now beer (lager, bitter, mild, ale etc.) is obvioulsy counted but I’d be interested to know if the “breezer” like pre-mixed drinks are. [/QUOTE] Why wouldn’t they be? By “pure alcohol” they mean the alcohol content of the drink, i.e. the form in which it comes is ignored. So a bottle of some alcopop is likely to represent the same quantity of pure alcohol as a small glass of wine, and is counted as identical. You can get the original report [here](http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/alcohol/en/index.html) - it says the data shown is for “all beverages”, and breakdowns by category (beers, spirits, wine etc.) are also available. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/11 "2008-06-01T13:49:50Z")
I’m amazed that they chose to introduce the ban at midnight on a Saturday night. If they’d gone for a mid-week introduction, or simply a day later, then the people who’s normal Saturday night consists of pub-club-fight-vomit wouldn’t have been so tempted to simply omit two of those ingredients. [QUOTE=matt] No, you got it right. They don’t serve food on the Tube, but you can certainly eat your own! [/QUOTE] There’s some places you can buy food within the system, if not on trains. On the Circle Line eastbound platform at Liverpool Street, there’s a sandwich stand, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/12 "2008-06-01T14:31:39Z")
[QUOTE=Dead Badger] Exactly that - a litre of pure alcohol. [/QUOTE] Thanks. I assumed that, but I’ve gotten into trouble before by assuming. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/13 "2008-06-01T16:49:47Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] Luxembourg are the champion boozers, with 15.5 liters annual alcohol consumption per person. [/QUOTE] This is a nitpick, but I think these statistics are not very helpful with regards to countries like Luxembourg. It’s a small nation with a small population, but there’s a lot of tourism and commuting there; quite a number of people who work in Luxembourg live in France, Belgium, or Germany. If you add up all the alcohol sold in Luxembourg, including the stuff drunk by tourists or commuters, and divide it by the number of Luxembourg residents, you’ll end up with an exaggerated per capita consumption. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/14 "2008-06-01T17:45:00Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] The UK isn’t particularly high on the table of alcohol consumption worldwide. It’s just that our sensationalist press gives far more publicity to drunken louts. Luxembourg are the champion boozers, with 15.5 liters annual alcohol consumption per person. Ireland, Hungary, Moldova, Czech Republic, Germany are also ahead of the UK, with an annual consumption of around 11 liters. The US weighs in at 8.6. (Although if US states were measured individually Nevada would be way up near the top with \>12 liters. [/QUOTE] I am from Nevada and while there is a lot of alcohol in the casinos, I know of nobody that makes it a goal to drink until they vomit. This is just bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/15 "2008-06-01T20:26:16Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by_ **Desert Nomad** : > I know of nobody that makes it a goal to drink until they vomit. This is just bizarre. As a Brit I absolutely agree - it is bizarre. On the other hand, also as a Brit, I don’t actually know anybody - including my kids and their friends - that “makes it a goal to drink until they vomit”. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/16 "2008-06-01T20:35:23Z")
[QUOTE=Desert Nomad] I am from Nevada and while there is a lot of alcohol in the casinos… [/QUOTE] I can’t help but think those statistics given earlier are skewed by being based on alcohol sales, rather than a more accurate measure of consumption by residents. Lots of tourists in Vegas = more alcohol sales. Lower taxes in New Hampshire = more sales to residents of adjacent states (that one’s a WAG). It could also explain Luxembourg’s position, they certainly use lower fuel duties to encourage lorry drivers to fill up while passing through rather than spend money in adjacent countries. On the drink-until-vomit angle, the crucial word in the following paragraph from the original article is the first one: > [@](#): > > Sailor Peter Moore, 35, from Brighton on the southern English coast, told the agency his night was “Drunken, I just downed a can of beer in 10 seconds. It’s sweaty on there but I’m going round and round until I vomit.” Sailor, presumably on leave, taken as an example of the general population? ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/17 "2008-06-01T20:59:22Z")
I vividly remember there being a bar on one of the platforms at [Sloane Square station](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloane_Square_tube_station) on the Circle & District line. Apparently it closed in 1985. ---
**Author:** ![Seventy-five](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Seventy-five](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seventy-five)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/18 "2008-06-02T05:35:41Z")
[QUOTE=Dead Badger] By “pure alcohol” they mean the alcohol content of the drink, i.e. the form in which it comes is ignored. [/QUOTE] THanks, had fuzzy Sunday head going. I don’t know if vomiting is actually the goal but in the UK it seems socially acceptable to tell others you were “so drunk I threw up” or “had to stay in bed all day Saturday with a hangover”. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/19 "2008-06-02T07:39:36Z")
[QUOTE=matt] Unfortunately, to Australia, where if anything, they drink even more… [/QUOTE] Not according to **aldiboronti’s** cite. Not even close. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342/20 "2008-06-02T10:38:40Z")
That’s because all Australian heavy drinkers end up backpacking in Europe on semi-permanent holiday 😉 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-alcohol-and-the-london-underground/451342.md?page=2)