Just go and have that drink in January…

Beers on barrell

Firstly from all of us here at uk micropubs, we’d like to raise a glass and wish everybody a happy new year. We’ve got lots of exciting plans for uk micropubs for 2019, a lot of which involves visiting as many micropubs as we can realistically get to. As is the case with most hobbies finding time for pub visits in-between work, family and general life commitments makes that challenging. With a lot of micropubs not allowing children due to licenses laws we basically must grasp every chance we’ve got to visit a micropub. Which leads us nicely onto #Dryanuary.

The internet is flooded with stories about people having a Dry January. It’s become a popular way to try and wash away the guilt of over indulgence over the festive period. Of course, a lot of charities has jumped on the bandwagon with people raising money for them by way of sponsorship for Dryanuary. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against charities and yes, I know they heavily rely on fundraising, but I’m not going to sponsor Jonny from marketing a fiver just because he’s not had a drink for a month. Especially as more than likely he’ll be out on the lash come 1st of February to celebrate his dry January.

It’s not just the sponsorship side of things though, it’s also the impact it has to the drinks industry and specifically micropubs. Sure, there was an upsurge in December and pubs were busier than normal, but with people actively being discouraged from drinking it’s going to impact footfall. Especially as there was another “dry” month less than four months ago with Go Sober for October. If you want to raise money for charity, there are better ways to go about it that won’t affect small business owners trying to make a living. Let’s not forget that a lot of these same establishments will typically have a collection jar for various charities throughout the year. So Dryanuary and Go Sober October can go do one for all I care. Is it really the best way to try and get people to be a bit healthier by telling them to not have a drink for a month?

How about we have “drink in MAYderation” instead, or “Check your JUNEits”? If anything, tell people to know their limits and make up their own minds, not stop drinking for a month or two of the year. What kind of message is this sending, stop drinking for a month, but hey the rest of the year go back to your lager swilling loutish ways? Or better yet, how about just stop telling people what to do. We are constantly bombarded by the media on how we should live our lives and I for one am getting tired of it. Of course, we are free to ignore this.

I’d like to think that your average micropub visitor are not the type that’s out every other night getting smashed and drinking themselves into oblivion. Which is why I’d also like to think that your average micropub visitor will continue to visit micropubs up and down the UK and give these small businesses the support they need, regardless of the time of year.

Now don’t get me started on #Veganuary!

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