UK NEWS

Dry January: supermarkets cash in as 8.5m take break from booze

Average price of nine brands of low and no-alcohol beer has increased by over 22 per cent since the start of December
Leading retailers have ramped up prices on popular non-alcohol brands
Leading retailers have ramped up prices on popular non-alcohol brands

Britain’s biggest supermarkets have been increasing the cost of low and ­no-alcohol drinks as 8.5 million Britons pledge to complete Dry January.

The average price of nine brands, ­including Birra Moretti Zero and ­Guinness Draught 0.0, have increased by 22.3 per cent at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose since the start of December, according to ­research by The Grocer magazine.

The biggest single increase was at Waitrose, where bottles of Erdinger Alkoholfrei Wheat Beer increased 75 per cent from £1 to £1.75. At Sainsbury’s 12-packs of Heineken 0.0 jumped 64 per cent from £7 to £11.50. The trade magazine noted that the average price of low and no-alcohol beers had risen faster than full-strength beers over the past year despite not being subject to