Closing time for Manchester's first alcohol-free bar due to Britain's drinking "mindset"
5 August 2024, 10:52
The first alcohol-free bar in Manchester is to shut down after less than a year, with its founder arguing that Britain needs “mindset change” on its approach to drinking.
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Love From, a sober bar in the city centre, opened in January on Aytoun Street after a successful trial the previous year.
Its stated mission was to “redefine perceptions that you need booze to have a good time” and offered alcohol-free cocktails for £7.50 and zero per cent pints of beer for £6.
But Karl Considine, 39, the founder, announced in July that the bar would shut, citing the current “financial situation” of the business and a “wildly competitive” sector in the city centre.
He said the bar started well. It benefitted from some of the estimated 8.5 million people who refused to drink alcohol in January but the footfall began to drop over the next few months.
He told The Times: “A lot of people do dry January and end up going for longer because when you go alcohol-free for a month it’s enough time to notice all the massive benefits. We saw that behaviour in our customers.
“But what we noticed was as the warmer weather came — with people sitting outside — the behaviour is more to drink than go alcohol-free. We’ve had a lot happening this year with the Euros and everything. During the tournament most bars around us were absolutely packed and we were dead.
“I think there is some novelty in what we do. We had regulars but a lot of people will just try it once.”
Research shows that 18 to 24-year-olds are almost twice as likely to be non-drinkers compared with the rest of the population. Almost a third of people of all ages say they wanted to reduce their alcohol consumption in 2024.
Alcohol-free bars have been successful in places such as London and Brighton.
Mr Considine, who has been sober himself for more than three years, added: “There’s a contradiction in what has happened to us. So many people have been shocked. So many people have been like ‘oh but everyone’s alcohol free now’.
“But there’s a disconnect with that and customer behaviour. It doesn’t mean that people are gonna choose to go to an alcohol-free bar instead. We are still in a world of moderation and choice.”
He added that his business also became a target for negative comments online.“We were getting things like ‘you couldn’t pay me to go there’, ‘what a stupid idea’ and ‘he’ll be opening a vegan butchers next’ — which I thought was quite funny.
“It just shows how some people think and how preposterous going alcohol-free would seem to some. A mindset change is needed.
“Whatever the occasion there is always a reason to drink: a celebration, a commiseration, a bad day at work, an amazing day at work. It’s so deeply ingrained in how we exist.”
The former HR worker is not giving up on his alcohol-free drive yet but is instead focusing on pop-up events at festivals, corporate gigs and weddings.
He said: “What we’ve learnt is there is a growing trend of alcohol-free but not necessarily sobriety.”
