Prof G.Valentine
co-investigators S. Holloway (Geography, Loughborough)
Mark Jayne and Charlotte Knell
01/01/2005- 30/06/2006
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
In the past decade urban regeneration initiatives have developed night-time economies. Alongside traditional pubs new hybrid café/bar/club venues have emerged, attracting a more diverse clientele. However these consumption landscapes have prompted concern about alcohol-fuelled disorder. The White Paper Time For Reform has given local states new powers to tackle this by shaping local landscapes of consumption. Patterns of drinking are also changing. More women are drinking to unsafe levels, and drinking is on the increase among young and older people. Even among those who abstain for religious reasons, such as Muslims, there is evidence of some drinking. Yet the temperance movement also persists. This research takes a holistic approach to alcohol consumption across social groupings within place-specific communities, and considers a range of drinking practices from abstinence to bingeing. In doing so it considers intergenerational patterns of drinking and the home as an overlooked site of consumption