Carlsberg’s takeover of Britvic cleared by regulator
Carlsberg’s £3.3bn takeover of Britvic will complete next month after being cleared by Britain’s competition regulator.
Soft & Hot Drinks
DRINKS LIST 2025
Find out the top brands to stock for 2025
The latest Drinks List from The Morning Advertiser is here, it’s absolutely free to access and it’s all yours – right now.
DRINKS LIST 2025
Why the Drinks List 2025 is a ‘must-have’ to help stock your bar well
The Morning Advertiser is launching its latest Drinks List so you know the most popular brands in the UK on-trade and how well each one is faring at pubs and bars up and down the country.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Finding the right cheeses for alcohol-free wine
Club Soda head buyer and brand relationship manager Josh Kelly gave tips on alcohol-free wine and cheese pairing at the recently held Drinks Academy.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
The 7 key aspects in tasting great alcohol-free drinks
Christine Parkinson, dubbed “the grandmother” of low & no alcohol drinks, gave eager fans of the category key tips on how to taste such beverages at the recently held Drinks Academy by Club Soda.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
The investment Adnams made to get Ghost Ship 0.5% off the ground
When Adnams set out to make a 0.5% ABV version of its flagship Ghost Ship pale ale beer, it had to invest in new equipment to ensure it could stand up to the original.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
On-trade can follow supermarkets for low & no inspiration
While traditionally it has been the on-trade leading the way in new trends, Thatchers Cider claims supermarkets are doing the heavy lifting when it comes to thanks to low & no products.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Athletic: ‘Have a good low & no offer and promote it with pride’
Low & no beer brewer Athletic Brewing said the success of the sector is down to having a good offer at your pub and promoting it with pride.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Stonegate adds to AF line-up
Stonegate Group has increased its alcohol-free line-up with a deal to list AF-beer brand Days.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Low & no collective urges Gov to update alcohol descriptors
Almost 80 alcohol-free brands, suppliers, drinks experts and even a celebrity have united to urge the Government to take action on outdated alcohol-free drinks descriptors.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Pubs needs to hit right balance to attract younger market
Younger people are moving away from late-night socialising and alcohol when it comes to interacting with the on-trade.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
St Austell enters low & no market with Proper Job 0.5%
St Austell Brewery is launching its first low alcohol beer – Proper Job 0.5% ABV – after developing the brew for more than two years.
LOW & NO PROJECT
64% of operators would install a non-alcoholic draught beer
Three in five operators would install a non-alcoholic draught beer at their pub, new data has revealed.
CCEP launches Oasis brand in pubs
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) has introduced its popular Oasis brand to the on-trade market.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Big Drop is meeting the challenge of low & no on draught
Alcohol-free-only brewer Big Drop has for many years offered its award-winning beers in bottle, can and keg but says the biggest challenge has been trying to get pubs to put a low & no draught line on.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
67% of sector chiefs say low & no will be key trend
Almost seven in 10 (67%) sector bosses believe low & no alcohol drinks will continue or become a key trend during the rest of 2024.
OPINION
OPINION: Time to make room at the bar for low & no alcohol drinkers?
I recently encountered the phrase ‘zebra stripping’ – a growing drinking trend that refers to alternating between alcoholic and low & no alcohol drinks.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
POLL: Would you install an alcohol-free beer line at your pub?
Following the successful trials of Guinness 0.0 on draught and a surge in consumer desire for low and no products, The Morning Advertiser (MA) has looked at the benefits of adding alcohol free lines in pubs.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Cocktail specialists on the rise of low & no alcohol drinks
Bars specialising in cocktails believe low & no alcohol drinks are here to stay but say the way in which people socialise is going to play a larger part in reducing alcohol consumption in the future.
Gen Z drinking less alcohol but still visiting the on-trade
A third of 18 to 24-year-olds are drinking less alcohol than they did a year ago but are still visiting the on-trade on a regular basis.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
How the Drinks List charted sales of low & no beers
Data from The Drinks List – Top Brands to Stock in 2024 charted the start of when the sector appeared to appreciate how strong sales for Low & No beers were becoming.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Rising sales of zero alcohol beers key to Liberation
Channel-Islands-based Liberation Group recently announced a boost in its H1 financial results and cited low & no drinks as a key part to this success through its Butcombe arm.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Lucky Saint: 'Don't underestimate the power of the non-drinker'
“Don’t underestimate the power of the non-drinker”; that’s the message from Lucky Saint’s on-trade director Aaron Duffett as the low & no beer segment booms.
The Low & No Project
Definitions of no, low and light are ‘complicated’
Customers do no understand ABV and the definitions of no, low and light alcohol drinks are “complicated”, according to a panel of experts.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Diageo cites low & no opportunity in waiting
Drinks giant Diageo has claimed pubs are now responsible for 53% of non-alcohol drinks sales as the low & no movement advances.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Adding a draught beer line could ‘double’ your low & no sales
Adding a low or no alcohol draught beer line to your bar could see a pub double its low & no sales immediately, according to Greene King senior category manager Andrew Carpenter.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
How training is key in low & no market
Getting your staff on board with low & no drinks is vital in claiming your share of a market worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
‘Zebra striping’ drinking on the increase
One in three visits to the pub are alcohol-free (AF) and a quarter of drinkers are alternating between full-strength alcohol and AF when visiting the on-trade.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Low, Light & Alcohol-Free Summit to take place in September
The trend is growing for drinking less alcohol, according to Laura Willoughby MBE, who will be talking more about the subject at the inaugural brand-led conference called the Low, Light & Alcohol-Free Summit 2024.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Low & no alcohol beer sales continue to grow
While the low and no-alcohol beer category takes up a smaller percentage of the on-trade market, it is the fastest growing sector in both volume and value sales.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
New low & no serves to expand your range
Following the launch of the Morning Advertiser’s (MA) Low & No Project earlier this week, we’ve put together a handy round-up of some of the best new products in the segment from the last 12-months.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Operators must be agile on low & no drinks
Some of the best in the low & no drinks business have offered advice to pubs and bars wondering why they should invest in the category.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Laura Willoughby: Moderation has gone mainstream
Many people in the UK are drinking less alcohol than they used to. However, only a small number of these have become complete abstainers.
Soft drinks worth more than £7bn to on-trade
Soft drinks have fast become a multi-billion-pound revenue stream pubs can no longer ignore.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
The Low & No Project launched by The MA
The Morning Advertiser is launching The Low & No Project in a bid to educate and inspire the opportunities in the low & no products on-trade category that are currently only being taken advantage of by a few operators.
THE LOW & NO PROJECT
Your views wanted on low & no drinks at pubs
The low & no alcohol drinks market is the fastest growing category of the on-trade and we want your views on it.
Britvic’s training platform ‘been in the making for 12 months’
Soft drinks firm Britvic’s new training platform has now gone live, after being in the planning stages for the past 12 months.
PROMOTIONAL CONTENT
Soft drinks, sports and sustainability – getting ready for a summer of sales with CCEP
Pat Humphries, on-premise associate director at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners GB (CCEP), looks ahead to a bumper summer for hospitality and shares tips on how operators can get ready.
FEATURE - SOFT DRINKS AND MIXERS
FEATURE: Find a soft spot for making money
If you run a pub off the beaten track, or at least one with limited passing trade and you have a regular supply of customers, then congratulations, you’ve created a destination pub.
Schweppes unveils first European-wide brand ambassador scheme
Soft drink firm Schweppes has launched its new European-wide, brand ambassador programme.
EXCLUSIVE
Consumers embrace flexi-sober lifestyle
Consumers are opting for a ‘flexi-sober’ lifestyle in 2024, new research from premium soft drinks and mixers brand, Fentimans, has revealed.
Vote: did fewer people drink alcohol this January compared to previous years?
Reports are claiming that growing numbers of consumers are embracing the dry January challenge this year more than ever.
PROMOTIONAL CONTENT
The low and no drinks you must serve in January
What goes up must come down is the saying, and the festive highs in the on-trade are painfully followed by January lows – but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Nearly half of young people opt for low and no
The number of 18 to 24-year-olds regularly drinking alternatives to alcohol in the UK has increased by 13 percentage points during the past two years.
Brits set to spend £7.4bn on Christmas partying
Brits are planning to spend three times more than last year on Christmas partying, new research has revealed.
FEATURE – Low & no-alcohol
FEATURE: The category you can no longer ignore
In 2023, the Christmas bells are ringing in some changes for how we celebrate together.
Hall & Woodhouse offloads Rio
Independent brewer and pub company Hall and Woodhouse has sold soft drinks brand Rio to A.G. Barr for £12.3m.
Soft drinks up 33.1% during Women's World Cup final
Soft drinks and the Long Alcoholic Drinks (LAD) categories performed best during the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final on Sunday 20 August.
Feature – Soft Drinks
FEATURE: Soft drink sales on the rise
According to CGA by NIQ’s Drinks Recovery Tracker, soft drinks sales in managed venues have risen during the past three months compared to the same period last year.
Diageo invests €25m into Guinness 0.0 production plant
Drinks business Diageo has ploughed €25m into a new production plant in Dublin to increase production of Guinness 0.0 by 300%.