Wet January? Research reveals the UK’s lack of New Year resolve

ALL SET FOR WET JANUARY?

New research reveals a lack of New Year resolve among Britons

• Most Brits don’t plan to give up alcohol for January
• Men more likely than women to ditch the booze
• Londoners least likely to stick with their resolution for the entire month

When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, it seems that life may be too short for an entire month of strict exercise, crash diets and no booze. Research released today has revealed that 30% of Britons will not be making a resolution, with just one in seven (14%) not consuming alcohol for the month of January. The research*, commissioned by Mexican-inspired restaurant Wahaca to help decide whether or not January would be the right time to launch its new cocktail menu, also found that almost a quarter of people (24%) are not making a resolution because ‘life’s too short.’

Men are more likely to give up alcohol (19%) during January than women (12%) – with men also more likely to claim they’ll stick to their resolution for the entire month (39%) than women (31%). People in Wales are least likely to be abstaining from booze for the first month of the year (12.6%) with Londoners leading the way, with 21% of those questioned claiming their January will be dry. Despite these good intentions though, resolve is at its lowest among those living in the capital, who believe they’ll last an average of 15 days with their New Year’s resolutions, versus a national average of 17 days.

Though almost a quarter of Britons (24%) believe that January is the best month of the year to cut out booze, 30% say that there isn’t a single month when they’d want to do so. And our friends and family are the thing we’d miss the most (41%) if we had to ‘give them up’ for January – with a third of people saying their favourite food and drinks would be what they couldn’t do without for a whole month. Londoners mark themselves out as the nation’s workaholics, with 14% saying they’d miss their job the most if they had to give it up for January, well above double the national average (6%).

Wahaca’s co-founder Mark Selby commented: “We wanted to understand what was important to the nation when looking at our cocktail menu for 2024, so it’s interesting to see the different approaches being taken across the country when getting to grips with New Year’s resolutions. Whether people are going dry for January or enjoying a few drinks – in moderation of course – we think they’ll find something to enjoy at Wahaca, and the research findings gave us the confidence to take the unusual step of launching new cocktails in January!”

To raise a glass to the year ahead, visitors to Wahaca throughout January can choose from a selection of cocktails on the house by redeeming a voucher from wahaca.co.uk/try-our-cocktails-on-us/ – there are a whole host of new or reimagined drinks including the Basil Mezcalita, the Passion Fruit Vanilla Martini, a Pineapple Mezcal Sour or the deliciously warming Picante Margarita… or the new, freshly-shaken and alcohol-free Blackberry Sour for those that are sticking to their New Year booze ban. Free cheers to 2024!

*A survey of 2,000 UK adults, nationally representative, conducted by OnePoll

** One street food dish must be purchased to redeem. Full T&Cs at wahaca.co.uk

Featured Photo by Vinicius “amnx” Amano on Unsplash.