On tap: 0% beer coming to a Sussex bar near you?
One local publican says it's the future
Making alcohol-free beer more widely available on draught nudges people towards healthier choices, research suggests.
A new study found that making the drinks more visible and easier to purchase in bars led to increases in sales of non-alcoholic beer.
Offering alcohol-free options is often seen as a good alternative for people who want to be healthier.
Alcohol can lead to weight gain, addiction and has been linked to seven types of cancer, including mouth, upper throat, larynx, oesophagus, breast and bowel cancer.
For the new study, researchers from the University of Bristol's Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, working with Bristol City Council, recruited 14 pubs and bars across the city.
None of the venues had previously offered alcohol-free beer on draught.
The idea is being welcomed by one publican here in Sussex.
Shoes Simes owns three pubs across Eastbourne. She says: "Most 0% beer offerings are sold in bottles. If we can get them on draught it would save all the glass. It would save all the recycling. Better for the environment, better for the business and better for the customer."
"I've got two pubs in the town centre and in these pubs, we're thinking about a non-alcoholic beer on draught on the bar. I think people really want the choice these days. How we socialise is changed. You don't need to drink to socialise.
"People are really health conscious and want to have more choice so we'd be nuts not to listen to our customers and they'll really appreciate having the option.
"Putting a 0% beer on the bar would only help sales. It's really good to give people a choice. It's a modern trend and it's what people are asking for. If you're out with friends and one of them doesn't want to alcohol drink, you're more likely to go to a place that sells it (0% beer.)"
For the study, the pubs and bars completed two intervention periods and two "control" periods in a randomised order over eight weeks.
The intervention involved replacing one draught alcoholic beer with an alcohol-free beer. The control period of the study was business as usual.
The study found that, when an alcohol-free option was available, pubs and bars sold, on average, 29 fewer litres of alcoholic beer per week, equivalent to 51 fewer pints and a 5% reduction in sales.
However, this was replaced by an equivalent increase in sales of alcohol-free beer, suggesting customers were choosing the healthier option.
Furthermore, there was no impact on the money taken, suggesting the change did not leave pubs and bars worse off.
Dr Angela Attwood, associate professor in the Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, said: "Although alcohol-free options have been available for a while in pubs and bars, they have not had the same visual prominence as alcoholic drinks and are rarely served on draught.
"Our study showed that providing front-of-bar draught non-alcoholic options could lead to some customers switching from alcoholic drinks.
"This does not restrict consumer choice; in fact, it increases the options available to the customer, and at the same time could reduce population levels of alcohol consumption and improve public health."