Midweek drinking outside the home is on the increase, according to market analyst Datamonitor.
The company predicts that spending on midweek drinking will increase by 15% over the next five years in Europe, as people try to improve their work-life balance by spending more time socialising after work.
The UK leads the European drinking league, spending £26.7b on drinks in bars, caf‚s, restaurants and hotels in 2003, and this is expected to increase to £29.1b by 2008.
Soft drink sales as a percentage of total UK on-trade sales is also set to increase, from just over 10% in 2003 to almost 13% in 2008.