As of January 2026, the average UK household spends £798 on alcohol each year - a decrease of 8% in the past five years. Of the nearly £800 spent each year on alcohol per household, £469 is spent on drinks consumed at home and £325 on drinking out of the house.

NimbleFins has crunched the numbers from the latest Office of National Statistics Family Spending report and adjusted for recent inflation to see how alcohol spending varies by age, where you live and household income, so you can see how your spending compares. We've also broken out UK spending by type of alcohol (e.g., spirits like vodka, wine, beer, etc.).

How Much do Brits Spend on Alcohol?

Each week, the average English household spends £15.3 on alcoholic drinks. Over the course of a year, this adds up to £798 representing ~3% of the typical UK household budget, and is nearly as much money as we spend on meat and fish from grocery stores each year (£918).

Actual spending on alcohol varies significantly by age, where you live and income levels. Below we've broken out alcohol spending by these categories so you can see how your spending compares.

Average Household Spending on Alcohol by Age

Younger households spend less on alcohol, tobacco and narcotics consumed at home than older households, with 50 to 64-year-olds spending the most. This age group spends £836 per year on alcohol, tobacco and narcotics for use at home, compared to £271 for households with a reference person under 30 years old. Alcohol spending declines after 65 years of age.

Note: this section reflects home-only consumption, and includes tobacco and narcotics spending, also.

Average Household Spending on Alcohol by Geography

Households in the South West spend more on alcohol than any other region in the UK - £17.7 per week. At the other end of the spectrum, but nearby, those in the North East spend the least at £12.6 a week on alcohol. The regions where people spend the most on drinking at home are Wales and the South East, tied at £10.8 per week. Londoners spend the most drinking out of the house (£6.9 per week) - interestingly, for a few years in the recent past this honour went to the North Westerners but Londoners have regained the top spot here!

Average Household Spending on Alcohol by Income

Spending on alcohol rises drastically with income levels - households with the highest 10% of income spend over 4.6X as much on alcohol as the lowest 10%. Households with the lowest incomes (that is, less than £14,872 of disposable income per year) spend £6.7 a week or £349 a year on alcohol. At the other end of the spectrum, the highest earning 10% of households (annual disposable income over £107,224) spend £31.3 on alcohol each week, or £1,629 each year.

Which Types of Alcohol do Brits Buy the Most?

Most of our spending on alcoholic drinks brought home goes to wine. Each year, the average UK household spends around £199 on wine & fortified wine, £116 on spirits, £105 on beer, £22 on cider and £28 on bubbly to drink at home. (Note, these numbers do not reflect money spent on drinks out of the house.)

Interestingly, a few years ago beer used to rank #2 behind wine, but spending on spirits has overtaken spending on beer for home consumption.

Being impaired by alcohol is the 8th most common cause of road traffic accidents UK, contributing to 6.4% of crashes. Don't drink and drive.

For information on how alcohol spending compares to other areas of our household budgets, see our related articles on Average Annual UK Food Spending and Average Annual UK Household Budget.