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Booze-free bars
無酗酒酒吧
Shaken not slurred
酒不醉人
Fashionable urbanites revive a temperance tradition
時尚的都市人恢復了節制飲酒的傳統
None for the road
無人醉倒在路邊
WEST LONDON，Friday night, 9pm. In the Redemption bar, music hums and candles flicker. A barman shakes cocktails under a neon sign. But the rowdy carousing often associated with British pubs at the weekend is absent. Although the cocorita is served with a margarita-style rim of salt, it contains no alcohol. Redemption is one of a small but growing number of drinkeries that serve no liquor.
倫敦西部，星期五晚上9點。Redemption酒吧里，閃閃的燭光中飄揚著音樂。霓虹燈下酒吧服務員搖晃著雞尾酒杯。然而，往常周末經常會有的吵鬧的歡飲，卻沒有在這里出現。酒吧雖然提供了cocorita，但是里面卻不含酒精。不提供烈性酒的酒吧雖少，但它們的數量在不斷增加，Redemption就是其中之一。
Worries about booze are on the rise. Hospitals complain that alcohol-related admissions are soaring; some police chiefs have called for new powers to tackle disorderly drunks. On February 4th the Home Office announced a new plan that ought to stop retailers from selling alcoholic drinks below cost—something they occasionally do to attract shoppers. This, said Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat minister in charge, would “stop the worst examples of very cheap and harmful drink”.
人們對酗酒的擔憂日益加劇。醫院抱怨稱因酒就醫的人越來越多；警察部門的負責人呼吁當局給予他們更多權力來對付酗酒的人。2月4日，內政部出臺新規定，旨在禁止零售商銷售低于成本價的酒飲料——他們經常用這種廉價的酒品來吸引顧客。內政部防止罪案次長，自由民主黨人諾曼·貝克說，該項規定將消除過于便宜的劣質酒所帶來的非常惡劣的影響。
Yet Britain is in many ways becoming more abstemious. In 2001 the average household consumed 1.5 litres of alcoholic drinks a week; by 2011, the latest year for which figures are available, that had fallen to 1.1 litres. The young in particular seem to be giving up boozing: over the same period, the number of 18- to 24-year-old men admitting to drinking heavily at least once a week fell from 37% to 22%; women became less sozzled, too. This year four times as many people gave up booze for “dry January” as did so last year, says Emily Robinson of Alcohol Concern, a charity. Dry bars benefit from this fad: Redemption's customers quadrupled between December and January.
英國在很多方面都變得更加節制。在2001年，平均每家每周消費1.5升酒飲料；到了2011年，最近的一個有相關統計數字的年份，這一消費量降到了1.1升。年輕人放棄酗酒的尤其多： 2001年時，18-24周歲的男青年中有37%的人每周至少酗酒一次；到了2011年，這一比例降為22%。女性在飲酒方面也變得更加節制。艾米麗·魯濱遜來自一家名為“關注飲酒”的慈善組織，她說，今年響應“二月戒酒”運動的人是去年同期的三倍。戒酒酒吧從這一風氣中受益：Redemption的顧客在12月到1月之間翻了兩番。
Abstemious bars have also opened in Liverpool and Nottingham, and are planned for Brighton and Newcastle—two famously high-living towns. Unlike many cafés, they stay open late. They emulate bars in other ways, with live music, comedy acts and films to pull in punters. When the lights go down and the DJ plays at Sobar, which opened in Nottingham in January, it looks like any city bar, hopes Alex Gillmore, the manager. Redemption misses the hefty profits made on alcohol, but temperance brings its own benefits. Business remains steady throughout the week rather than spiking at the weekend, says Catherine Salway, its founder. The absence of drunken, obstreperous patrons means that bouncers are unnecessary.
利物浦和諾丁漢也開了一些節制酒吧，兩個著名的奢侈之城——布賴頓和紐卡爾斯也有此計劃。與咖啡廳不同，戒指酒吧在夜里會開到很晚。在其他方面，它們與正常酒吧相仿，用輕音樂、喜劇表演和電影招徠顧客。諾丁漢的Sobar開張于今年的1月份，其經理亞歷克斯·吉爾默希望當燈光變暗，DJ響起時，它看起來像正常酒吧一樣。Redemption失去了酒品帶來的豐厚的利潤，但是節制飲酒會帶來它自身的利潤。Redemption的創始人凱瑟琳·梭威說，酒吧的生意每天都保持在一個穩定的水平，而不是在周末的時候有個峰值。沒有了酒鬼，沒有了喧鬧，說明海量的人并不是必須的。
Sobar, like the Brink in Liverpool, is linked to a do-gooding drug and alcohol charity. But ordinary drinking dens are becoming a little drier, too, out of business sense rather than temperance principle. Pubs can make almost as much selling food as drink—and more are serving it. Both in pubs and at home, less boozy drinks are becoming popular. Total sales of beer by volume dropped slightly in the year to January, but those of the weaker kinds, with just 1.3-3.3% alcohol by volume, jumped 32%, according to Kantar Worldpanel, a market-research firm. Sales of “adult” sparkling soft drinks are growing too. Perhaps the café-culture British politicians have so long yearned for is at last emerging. A sobering thought.
同利物浦的Brink一樣，Sobar也與一家倡導戒毒戒酒的慈善組織有關。但是，普通的酒吧也開始迎合戒酒的風尚了，它們是出于商業的目的，而不是因為節制的原則。酒吧幾乎可以賣出同酒品銷量一樣多的食品，而且很多酒吧都在提供食物。無論是在酒吧還是在家里，少飲酒都成為了一種時尚。市場調查公司Kantar Worldpanel的數據顯示：截止到1月份，今年來啤酒的總銷量略有下降，但是酒精度數較低的品種—酒精占比為1.3-3.3%（體積比例）的啤酒——銷量下降了32%。成年人軟飲料的銷量不斷增加。英國政客所向往的咖啡文化或許正在涌現。這是一種有節制的理念。譯者：姜開鋒 校對：周雨晴
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