Alcohol-free beer is to be used by the Office for National Statistics to measure inflation, reflecting the shift to healthier consumption habits among UK shoppers.
In its annual update to the basket of goods and services it uses to track pricing growth, the ONS added booze-free beer alongside 26 other items including houmous, pet grooming and car dashboard cameras.
“This year, healthier lifestyle choices influence consumer spending, reflected by goods such as houmous and non-alcoholic beer,” said Stephen Burgess, the deputy director for prices at the ONS.
Meanwhile, bottled premium lager purchased in pubs and restaurants have been ejected from the ONS list of over 750 products and services. Sheets of wrapping paper have also been ditched in favour of more commonly purchased rolls.
“Consumer behaviour is constantly evolving, and this annual shuffle gives us an insight into our changing lived experience,” said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell. “Since the pandemic, many of us have tried to embrace healthier lifestyles and the proliferation of no & low alcohol options [has] helped people change their drinking habits.
“Houmous has been a staple of lunchboxes for years but as a plant-based source of protein and fibre it’s becoming more and more popular. This trend has been exacerbated as take-up of weight-loss drugs continues to grow.”
It comes after an investigation by The Sunday Times found the price of non-alcoholic beer was climbing faster than its alcoholic equivalent – despite producers not paying duty on 0.0% brews.
The average price of non-alcoholic beers in shops and supermarkets climbed 8.3% in the year to 31 January, ahead of the 3.5% and 1.9% rise seen in the rate of inflation for alcoholic lager and ales [Circana].
A similar investigation by The Grocer in January 2024 also found low & no-alcohol beer and cider prices were rising ahead of their alcoholic counterparts.
Meanwhile, in a major change to how the ONS plans to track pricing growth, the organisation will this month switch from manually collected price points to supermarket scanner data for more than half of the grocery market.
The change in reporting method will take effect in February’s figures, published on 25 March,
It would mark a “step change” in the long-term improvement of UK economics statistics, Burgess added.
The rate of inflation in the UK fell to 3.0% in January – its lowest since March 2025. However, a surge in energy and fuel prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East has raised concerns about a fresh increase.
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