Encouraging No and Low Alcohol Availability and Visibility in Hospitality Settings

With more people moderating their alcohol consumption – or not drinking at all – ensuring no and low alcohol options are available, appealing and visible in hospitality settings is more important than ever.

By Prof Victoria Wells (School for Business and Society), Dr Nadine Waehning (School for Business and Society), Dr Sarah Forbes (School for Business and Society) and Dr Emily Nicholls (Department of Sociology)

Part of the team: (from L to R) Prof Victoria Wells, Dr Nadine Waehning, and Dr Emily Nicholls
Part of the team: (from L to R) Prof Victoria Wells, Dr Nadine Waehning, and Dr Emily Nicholls

Alcohol contributes to hundreds of health conditions – including stroke, heart disease and cancer – so it is no wonder that many public health organisations are looking for ways to reduce alcohol consumption.  No and low alcohol alternatives (NoLos) are increasingly being considered as a way to encourage lower levels of alcohol consumption. A range of health organisations have highlighted the potential value of these products as part of a health strategy to reduce alcohol consumption (see for example the 10 year health plan for England).  

Businesses are also recognising the value of NoLos. Mintel notes that in 2025 the market for no and low alcohol drinks was worth £413million. Academic researchers have found that people drinking at ‘risky’ levels are particularly likely to try no and low alcohol products and that consumers report using NoLos as a way to reduce their alcohol intake.  With more adults moderating their alcohol consumption or cutting out alcohol entirely, both established alcohol companies and new NoLo providers are responding to this growing market with innovative products. 

As researchers interested in brewing companies, pubs and consumer choice, health and wellbeing, (as well as  finding we were drinking more no and low alternatives ourselves!) this new trend caught our attention.  

Studying no and low alcohol consumer behaviour

We started with a systematic literature review to understand what we know and don’t know about consumer behaviour related to no and low alcohol consumption.  Our analysis using the Mojet model showed that we know very little on this topic, so we decided to explore further. We also conducted a small-scale but in-depth study examining the marketing and consumption of NoLo drinks, to gain a better initial understanding of how such products are marketed and how they are incorporated into people’s everyday (non)drinking routines. 

We decided to complete a q-methodology analysis to understand more about purchasers and consumers of these products.  We found that consumers who were not drinking NoLos identified poor branding and cost as key barriers to consumption.  We also did some live experimental research in a number of North Yorkshire pubs to look at ways to encourage patrons to choose NoLo alternatives.  

One key finding that has emerged out of all of our research is the lack of availability and visibility of no and low alcohol alternatives in hospitality settings. This is also supported  by recent research from KAMxEverleaf in their Raising the Bar report.  Additionally recent KAM research shows that 4 out of 10 consumers have left a hospitality venue early because of poor no and low options.  We decided to do something about this, and work with publicans to support NoLo visibility, promotion and choice in bars, pubs, and other hospitality settings.

Supporting publicans and hospitality venues
Initially, we worked with the City of York council to develop a publicans’ guide, which outlined why publicans should offer no and low alternatives, and what best practice strategies they could use.  We also developed a range of point of sale materials for publicans to use,  designed by York St John University design student Sam Armstrong. These included pump clips, stickers, posters, and beer mats. tion or cutting out alcohol entirely, both established alcohol companies and new NoLo providers are responding to this growing market with innovative products.

Publicans guide

We launched the publicans’ guide at the York CAMRA Beer Festival in September 2025 and it has been great to see the project rolling out across the city of York since then.  Feedback on the project from publicans has been highly positive, with 86% stating that the materials have increased visibility of NoLo offerings, and 76% convinced they have increased consumer awareness of their offerings. Ease of use was noted by 93% of respondents, 90% found the guide helpful in promoting their no and low alcohol offerings.  

Interest in the project is spreading outside of York and we are talking to several different councils, public health bodies, and other organisations to extend the reach of the project. We’re particularly happy that North East Lincolnshire council is replicating the project as well and look forward to learning more from their feedback.  

Joining the publications’ guide and point of sale materials, our NoLo venue map of York was also successfully launched in December, in time for all those Christmas parties!  We want the map to support all consumers who are looking for no and low alternatives, whether they are short or long-term non-drinkers (yes of course we are thinking of #dryjanuary!) or are moderating their alcohol consumption permanently or temporarily.  We also wanted to support hospitality venues and encourage people to still visit venues during the start of the year when many pubs, bars and restaurants struggle with lower visitor numbers. And finally, making sure that everyone has something to drink in the pub makes these spaces inclusive and welcoming for all!

All the way through the project we’ve designed all materials to be as accessible for hospitality venues as possible.  We know hospitality venues don’t have spare cash to spend on these and we’ve provided them to venues free of charge (our initial print run and design was funded by University of York School for Business and Society internal funding).  All the materials are also available free of charge on our microsite and we’re happy for any organisation, venue, or council to use them! You can also follow the project on Instagram @nolowproject.  

We’re already planning new initiatives to roll out our NoLo materials further working with a range of public health organisations, councils and alcohol bodies.  We also want to continue to support hospitality venues in offering these products. We hope that in the future these types of materials won’t be necessary as every hospitality venue will offer no and low alternatives, promoting them actively alongside full alcohol products.  But for now, they are needed and are a great way to help publicans and consumers. Let’s raise a glass to that as we look forward to rolling them out further!

Example point of sale materials

No and Low Venue Map of York

Mental health and employment: understanding economic inactivity trends in social context

One in five adults in the UK is economically inactive. What is the causal relationship between mental health and capacity for work?

Dr Annie Irvine
By Dr Annie Irvine

Rising rates of mental ill health among working aged people, especially younger people, are causing significant concern to the UK Government. As of August 2025, one in five adults in the UK is economically inactive. Over recent years, mental health problems have risen to become the most dominant reason for economic inactivity, when captured in national surveys of employment status. Likewise, benefit statistics show mental health as the most prominent reason for health-related claims. 

Rising rates of psychological distress among people across the age range are clearly evident. Less clear, however, is the causal relationship between mental health and economic inactivity. Qualitative research, which delves below the surface of statistical trends, reveals a more complex picture of the factors shaping employment opportunities and outcomes for people with experience of mental health problems.

My recent research, carried out in collaboration with the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health, unravels the complexity in the causes of economic inactivity, by paying close attention to the perspectives and life stories of people with lived experience of mental distress. Our findings point to important ways in which we need to broaden the approach to understanding the interactions between mental health and economic inactivity, and how social policies should respond in tackling the problem. 

Mental ill health does not tell the full story of economic inactivity

Firstly, it is essential to recognise that people’s distress is real – genuine and sometimes severely impairing. But mental health problems do not exist in a vacuum. They are nearly always intertwined in highly difficult life circumstances and events. And those circumstances and events put up barriers to work at the same time as impacting people’s mental health. Using mental ill health as a blanket explanation does not tell the full story of why people become economically inactive or why they stay stuck in this situation. 

This came through clearly in our recent study that included 70 people who had experience of mental health problems and had claimed out-of-work benefits in the UK welfare system. In our analysis, we looked in close detail at how people described the things that shaped and constrained their capacity for work. All 70 of these individuals had experienced times when the symptoms of mental distress and the functional impacts on work were very real and at times very significant. But paying close attention to people’s whole stories showed that many other factors beyond mental health symptoms were shaping their capacity for work and the realities they faced in the labour market.

People spoke about the difficulties of finding work that fitted not only with any ongoing health limitations but also with their wider life commitments, with caring responsibilities, with prior experience and skills, aspirations and preferences and the locations they could feasibly work in.

They talked about a much wider range of personal circumstances that shaped their opportunities to sustain work. Some of these–for example, homelessness, domestic violence, abuse, or lone parenthood–had contributed to their mental health problems. But these circumstances also had direct effects on their ability to stay in work.

People also talked about the structural barriers they faced, from constrained labour markets, precarious employment, migration status, transport barriers and inflexible employers. Some faced a ‘benefits trap’ where moving into employment risked leaving them worse off overall.

All of these things worked together in complex, interwoven ways, to constrain people’s capacity for work.

Figure 1:  Factors shaping and constraining capacity for work: perspectives of benefit claimants with experience of mental distress

Tackling economic inactivity is complex and needs a holistic approach

The key message from these qualitative research findings is that we need a much more holistic approach to understanding and measuring the underlying causes of economic inactivity. National surveys that produce the headline statistics on economic inactivity offer people very limited categories to describe the reasons why they are not in work. But when we listen to people’s whole stories in qualitative research, being economically inactive ‘because of long-term sickness’ never fully explains people’s barriers or the support they may need. This is not because their mental distress isn’t real, but because it is only part of their story – it is an oversimplified description of the challenges they face. These challenges sit at the personal, interpersonal, socioeconomic and structural levels. This complexity is key to really understanding what is driving that upward curve in economic inactivity and what effective solutions will look like.

November saw publication of the government-commissioned Keep Britain Working Review. This independent Review, led by Sir Charlie Mayfield, former Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, was tasked with understanding the drivers of rising levels of inactivity and ill health, and developing recommendations for practical actions. There is much to commend in the Review’s analysis of the problem and proposed solutions. However, there is still a lack of clear recognition that people’s difficulties staying in or returning to work are often about much more than ill health in isolation.To say it again, people’s mental health problems are very real. But the statistical trends that keep hitting the headlines do not tell the full story of why people are struggling to find and keep work. This is not a question of whether we are ‘overmedicalising’ people’s distress. It is about a need to take a more holistic approach to understanding economic inactivity. If policies persist with a narrow and individualised focus on mental health and psychological treatments, they will miss essential areas for intervention around employment quality and flexibility, around access to lifelong education and training, around childcare, transport infrastructure and secure housing, and around prevention and protection from interpersonal violence. Improvements in all of these areas are key to reversing the trends in economic inactivity alongside continued attention to improving the nation’s mental health.