Brits biggest binge drinkers

According to new research, British people drink more alcohol on a night out than any of their Western European neighbours.

A poll of six European countries, found the UK had the highest consumption rate at an average 6.3 units of alcohol on a single occasion.

Germany came second in the drinkers' poll with the average person knocking back 5.5 units of alcohol per night out - equivalent to 1.9 pints of lager.

Spain was a close third at 5.3 units, followed by France at 4.9 and Italy at 4.7.

The Netherlands and Sweden were at the bottom of the drinking league, consuming an average 3.9 and 3.1 units of alcohol respectively per night out.

The survey monitored alcohol consumed in pubs, bars, cafes, restaurants or hotels on average 1.3 times each week, according to market analysts Datamonitor.

This rose to 2.2 times per week in Spain and dropped to just 0.4 times per week in Sweden.

The survey found that alcohol consumption levels outside the home across all the countries surveyed dropped by 0.5 per cent between 2000 and 2005.

Datamonitor found this was greater in the UK and Germany, even though they still came top of the drinkers' poll.

Datamonitor analyst John Band says people across Europe are starting to spend more on soft drinks in pubs and bars and alcohol consumption is becoming something that people do at home.

The culture of binge-drinking however appears to be declining throughout Europe with British consumption per occasion falling closer in line with the levels seen on the Continent.

The average European man drinks just over 2.5 times as much alcohol outside the home as the average European woman.

That difference is less marked in the UK, where men drink an average 2.1 times more alcohol than women when they go out.

In the last six years, the average amount of alcohol consumed by Britons per night fell by 0.5 units and as a result the sale of alcohol in pubs and restaurant went down by 21 million liters to 251 million liters between 2000 and 2005.

The British Beer and Pubs Association says it has seen a change in drinking habits and pubs have started to adapt by selling more coffee, food and soft drinks as Britons become more responsible in their drinking habits.

However Alcohol Concern says whether people are drinking a lot at home or in pubs it is still harmful to their health if they have too much.

Women now are not far behind men when it came to booze and it is estimated that in the next five years, consumption of alcohol among women will go up by 1.5 per cent annually, with British women accounting for 38 per cent of all UK drinking in 2010.

A smoking ban in UK pubs, due to take effect in 2007, is predicted to further boost female visits to pubs, according to industry experts.