Staying in is the new going out, with more people choosing to drink at home instead of in the pub, according to a new survey.
The British Lifestyles survey, conducted by Mintel, discovered that "the strongest trend in the alcoholic drinks market is the move towards in-home consumption".
In-home entertainment is held responsible for the move away from pubs, according to Mintel. It also found that drinkers were moving away from beer and instead choosing wine, cider and spirits to drink at home.
Expenditure on beer in pubs is still three-and-a-half times greater than the level of expenditure for consumption at home.
The survey did not bring all bad news for the trade, however. Mintel found pubs had made a significant impact on the eating-out market.
Eating out in pubs was said to have shown "tremendous growth" with pub catering being valued at £5.33bn by the end of 2001.
It also seems to have made its mark on the restaurant trade with affordable prices meaning eating out is no longer saved for special occasions. Spend on traditional restaurants has declined during the last 10 years because of competition within the sector - mostly from pubs.
Despite the fact the population is growing older, young adults have led many of the shifts in alcohol consumption, according to the survey.
Spending on spirits has shown what the survey calls a "remarkable turnaround". The sector had declined by nine per cent over the 1991 to 1996 period but now, boosted largely by the popularity of flavoured alcoholic beverages (FABs), it has shown "a significant 20 per cent growth over the last five years".
This trend was identified in the Publican's Market Report 2001, where FABs stormed into third place in drink sales. It reported the market was worth £400m to the on-trade.
In what is a blow for pubs that rely on tourism, the annual survey concluded 15 per cent fewer people were taking holidays in Britain. This decline is likely to be due to foot-and-mouth disease but could be reversed by the after-effects of September 11.
Surprisingly, the number of smokers in Britain stayed at just over a quarter of adults with more people shunning giving up completely in favour of smoking socially.