Background

London has fewer problems with alcohol than many English regions but the rate of alcohol related hospital admissions has almost doubled in the past six years, from 756 per 100,000 people in 2002/3 to 1488 per 100,000 people in 2008/09.

Alcohol also plays a key role in violence and crime in London, an estimated 45% of violent crime is alcohol related , and the cost of alcohol related crime and violence to London’s police, local authorities, health services and population is huge. It is estimated that 40% of A&E presentations are alcohol related and an estimated 2 million Londoners drink hazardously or harmfully.