What is it with drinking in the UK?

I work in a very sales oriented job and not to mention a male dominated industry (Banking and Finance), drinking with colleagues and clients is just part of the job.  On my very first trip over here  to meet the new team I would be working with I was introduced to an afternoon of drinks with a client.  After matching every pint that these two guys had with a large glass of wine, I was completely wrecked by 5pm.  We had started drinking at noon and I had no idea what to expect.  The next morning I had an awful hangover, couldn't get out of bed until 11 and rolled into the office at noon.  You know what I did with that experience...learned a lesson.  I still go to the pub with the same colleagues and clients, but now I have a few drinks slowly and don't try to keep up with blokes twice my size.  I can have just as much fun as the boys without getting wrecked.  But hey...the occasional night is going to happen to everyone and I found it very reassuring that my boss and my colleagues understood what I was going through that day and didn't hold it against me.  They understood because they had all been there.  

I don't really think the difference in drinking is that great.  There will always be those who abuse alcohol, but you don't have to be around those people if you don't want to.   I don't think that kids drink any earlier here than in the US.  I was sneaking beers from my parents fridge at 13 and I went to fraternity parties at college where binge drinking and destruction occured, and if I were in the US I would be out with friends 2-3 nights a week as well socializing in a bar or restaurant.  

That's not it at all.  Anyone who's lived here for any length of time and made efforts to really understand the culture can see that.  It's just there - at lunch, at celebrations.  If you want it, fine.  If you don't, that's fine as well.  No one really cares if you don't feel you need it to have a good time.  

BINGO!!!  My family and friends in Scotland couldn't care less if I order a soft drink instead of alcohol.  I've yet to have anyone comment on what's in my glass.

My god, where are you living and whom are you hanging out with? 

I think your experiece is a function of your surroundings.

We live in an area of trendy bars and pubs.  Never had a bother at all around here.  We once lived in one of the roughest, most deprived estates in town.  Never had a bother. 

Well, perhaps it's my fiance being overprotective of me. He's always warned me that although it's never happened to him, there are gangs of neds out there who are drunk out of their minds who would probably gang up on you. So far I've never personally experienced any bother directed at me, but you do see it and definitely hear it on occasion.

BINGO!!!  My family and friends in Scotland couldn't care less if I order a soft drink instead of alcohol.  I've yet to have anyone comment on what's in my glass.

And you get to laugh at all the drunken antics of those who over-indulge  .

One thing, you have to admit, is that when you go into any city centre at night, especially on the weekends, every single person is drunk -- a phenomenon which seems pretty unique to the UK.

Well, perhaps it's my fiance being overprotective of me. He's always warned me that although it's never happened to him, there are gangs of neds out there who are drunk out of their minds who would probably gang up on you. So far I've never personally experienced any bother directed at me, but you do see it and definitely hear it on occasion.

And yet has he given a thought to the level of gun violence in the US?  Personally, I'll take 'neds' any day after being held up at gun point in a posh part of Austin.  

One thing, you have to admit, is that when you go into any city centre at night, especially on the weekends, every single person is drunk -- a phenomenon which seems pretty unique to the UK.

And it's not in the US?  Ever been to LoDo in Denver on a Saturday night?  It doesn't exactly resemble a church lock-in. 

And I myself have actually been to city centre at night sober.  More than once, even.  At Christmas, for example, we've even gone to ice skate and see the lights and drank only cocoa.  Plan to do it again this year w/our daughter. 

Surprisingly enough, not every single person is drunk. 

OK, so are none of my observations correct then? 

And you get to laugh at all the drunken antics of those who over-indulge  .

LOL!!! 

Honeybee....I think that perhaps it's the phrasing of your observations.  To say that every single person in the city centre on a weekend night is drunk couldn't POSSIBLY be true.  I've been in the city centre during those times and I have never ONCE in my life been drunk.  To say that you run across many people who ARE drunk or SEEM drunk is probably more accurate.  People on the whole tend to get a bit defensive about sweeping generalizations, especially when you're talking to people who have made their lives here/have British family members, SO's, or spouses/are British themselves/etc.

One thing, you have to admit, is that when you go into any city centre at night, especially on the weekends, every single person is drunk -- a phenomenon which seems pretty unique to the UK.

Quite a unique American phenomena is having a gun pointed at you for cutting someone off  while driving to work or avoiding getting shot because you told some guy you didn't want to give them your telephone number....

OK, so are none of my observations correct then? 

I think we all find exactly what we seek.  If you go in thinking you'll see gangs of neds kniving folks all the time, that 'every single person' you see is drunk, that an entire culture is controlled by alcohol, well, that's exactly what you'll get.  

I don't drink as much as I did in the US.  It was cheaper and easier for me to get there.  As for hte 'drinking age' being a deterrent to kids drinking, it just made it more appealing for me to try to get.  There was never a time when I wanted it and was under 21 that I couldn't get it.  My sister was president of the tri-delt sorority, all I had to do was make a phone call.  

I've written it once on this thread - as have others - I'll write it again:  the only discernible difference I see in the 'drinking culture' of the US and UK is that people hide it better in the US.  But it's still just as prevalent - all you have to do is look at the number of automobile accidents involving alcohol, not to mention all sort of other reasons to visit the ER, as was brought up by another poster.

OK, so are none of my observations correct then?

Well, I wouldn't say that.  There is more of a drinking culture here, I think everybody agrees with that.  But I don't particularly agree that it's worse than in the states.  I know I don't live there now, but I certainly grew up with people who drank a lot-including people who got pissed what ever the occasion, drank underage, binge drank, and showed up at work with hangovers.  
But I do disagree that people here are drinking all the time and can't get together without  getting drunk.  I've actually been thinking about this throughout the day and I've got to say that I know a lot of people and I just don't agree with it.  I have many many good friends here, and none of those friendships are or have ever been based on drinking.  I go out with my friends for a drink and a meal quite regularly, we have barbeque's and parties and have been known to open a few bottles of wine, but it's the conversation and the friendship that are the main points of the evening.  If anything the majority of my friendships have been built around drinking coffee.  
I'll also confess to having the odd drink on a school night and being slightly hungover the next day-but not to an extent that it hinders my performance.  As a group I go out with my coworkers a couple of times a year and we have a good knees up-get fairly drunk and have quite a laugh.  But I'm not seeing anything wrong with it.  It lets you see your coworkers in a different light and lets you get to know them better.  
Maybe it's because you're young and are with a different crowd that you're seeing this.  When I was in my early twenties I drank a lot and everyone I knew did-but this was in the States.  So possibly it's an age thing and not a country thing.  
I will agree with you that I avoid the town center at night.  It seems to be filled with lots of drunks and I dread the day that I have to let my teenagers go in. 

Honeybee....I think that perhaps it's the phrasing of your observations.  To say that every single person in the city centre on a weekend night is drunk couldn't POSSIBLY be true.  I've been in the city centre during those times and I have never ONCE in my life been drunk.  To say that you run across many people who ARE drunk is probably more accurate.  People on the whole tend to get a bit defensive about sweeping generalizations, especially when you're talking to people who have made their lives here/have British family members, SO's, or spouses/are British themselves/etc.

Sorry the about generalizations. I meant them to be more like observations... other people on this thread seemed to say similar things to what I've said, so I thought I'd pitch in. I'm just comparing what I've known to what I've noticed here, but that doesn't mean I don't like it. Like the rest of you, I'm just trying to get used to living here.  I get the feeling the majority of you don't exactly like me anyway. 

And you get to laugh at all the drunken antics of those who over-indulge  .

The thing is, drunken antics are not anything to laugh at.

The drinking age is too young here.  

But life isn't as revolved around drinking in the US. Here, it's all about when you're getting your next drink and people are in pubs all during the day. It's one of the only main outlets the majority of people here have. There definitely is undeniably MUCH more of a drinking culture here.

Yes but you can't deny that life here really does revolve around getting drunk at every possible social situation, which can't exactly be good for your brain cells or liver in the long term. And the people who drink heavily in the US have a "drinking problem" or are alcoholics, as both of you have called it -- whereas here pretty much everyone drinks heavily enough to be considered those things, but it's normal and actually expected ... in fact, the more you drink, the more respected you are in many circles. That's just the primary way people here relax. It's just a difference in culture. Not saying it's bad, just an observation.

It's posts like this that are getting people's backs up.  They just simply aren't our experiences living here, so when they're phrased like absolute truths or something, then it's a bit upsetting or even insulting, really. 

And very very misleading to those not living here in the UK who are thinking of making the move.