When I was younger you could only buy alcohol in an off license and a pub.
Yes there were often fights at closing time , but generally it was harder to buy booze
Off licenses were only open certain hours usually and our local ones were well run & really kept more of a watchful eye on who was buying what and suchlike - a bit like a responsible pub landlord who refuses to serve a drinker once they are past their limit.
Now every flipping shop has gotten a license to sell booze (making lots of dosh for local council from sales of licenses), all the proper off-licenses have gone, and you see some people buying booze more at 9am in the morning.
We have a 10-20 convenience stores/newsagents 2 Tescos, 2 Sainsburys etc in the mile stretch of road that I live on - all selling booze. Some barely sell much else it seems, and often they are competing so hard against each other to sell that the prices do seem cheaper than they were 20 years ago.
I think this is one difference, the other being that so many folks get tanked up BEFORE they go out to save money and still get falling over drunk at the pub/bar/club.
I also notice the change in women's drinking habits more now and the effect it has
My ex used to go through 2-3 bottles of red wine a night if she went out and she certainly became a nasty hostile piece of work as the evening went on, and she was buying booze that certainly was more than the 40p per unit limit.
So price isn't anything more than attacking the poor in my opinion - from millionaire MPs who have no idea of the lives of those outside their circle.
I'm a total lightweight and barely drink at all , so I'm not really bothered by the price but I do wonder if they know what they are doing
