A breakfast pint at the airport is as much a part of the typical British holiday as third-degree sunburn and overindulging on the all-inclusive.
But soaring sales of alcohol-free beer, gut health shots and smoothies suggest a growing proportion of holidaymakers are eschewing pre-flight booze.
Figures from Manchester Airport Group (MAG) show a fivefold increase in sales of non-alcoholic beers at some of its bars and restaurants, while sales are up 7% overall since last summer.
Sales of vegan breakfasts and brunches have grown more than 20% in the same period at Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports.
The number of gut health products sold at these airports has doubled since last summer, the figures show, with WH Smith seeing a threefold increase in sales of gut health shots.
The trends reflect the changing habits of a healthier – and more selfie-conscious – younger generation. For their parents, perhaps, an airport tipple was the only way to start the holiday, no matter how early.
“We’re going on holiday and there’s going to be a lot of drinking there, so we just didn’t want to get too tipsy. We’ve had our uni days,” said Aneesha Jhanji, enjoying an iced coffee before her holiday to Turkey with her boyfriend, Joel Hutchinson.
Jhanji and Hutchinson, both 23, said they were not big drinkers but that many of their friends were more focused on looking good in holiday pictures than getting drunk before they land. “A lot of people are conscious now of bad food leading to mental health issues, and sugar crashes and alcohol,” said Hutchinson.
Waiting for their flight from Manchester to Paris for the Olympics, Nancy Dykins and her husband, Nick Dykins, 55, had eschewed the traditional pre-flight tipple in favour of a coffee and salad.
“Almost everybody we know drinks far less than they used to,” said Nancy. “It’s almost like that turning the tide with cigarettes – that general awakening and people realise the health implications.”
Nick, from Bury, said it had become more socially acceptable not to drink and healthier options were more widely available: “You come to this airport now and it’s dead easy to get something healthy, whereas not that long ago it was pizza and chips.”
However, experts are not calling last orders for the airport pint just yet. Beer sales were up about 9% in the past year across MAG, almost exactly in line with the rise in passenger numbers.
But even the Wetherspoon’s at Stansted – the home of the pre-flight session – has seen a 45% rise in alcohol-free beer sales since last summer.
Keith McAvoy, the chief executive of Manchester-based brewery Seven Bro7hers, said passenger habits had changed since opening their airport bar in July 2020. “People don’t want a bland or overly boozy experience,” he said, adding that food pairings with craft ales were more popular, as were vegan dishes.
At Stansted’s branch of Joe & The Juice, which sells protein matcha shakes and beetroot juices, sales have grown 39% compared with last year.
The restaurant Giraffe, at Manchester airport, has seen an eightfold rise in vegan breakfasts and brunches in the past year, while sales of the smoky vegan chilli have soared 167% at the Stansted Wetherspoon’s.
For some, though, the old traditions are the best. “It’s something that families have always done: you arrive at the airport and go to the ‘spoons to get a pint. It’s never too early, is it?” said Evie Calcutt, 21, sipping a midday Guinness before jetting off to New York City with her boyfriend Harvey Ball, 23.
At Amber Alehouse, John Billington, 42, said he and his wife, Karen Billington, 50, had stuck to the same holiday routine for 20-odd years – “we spray the smellies, have a beer and get something to eat” – but their daughters, 21 and 24, would be reaching for a smoothie. “It’s a younger generation thing,” he said, sipping a £6 pint of IPA.