Drinking responsibly: the UK guidelines

We love a well-made drink, and that includes knowing when to stop. Here are the official UK guidelines, in plain English. This is general information, not medical advice: if you're worried about your drinking, speak to your GP.

The weekly guideline

The UK Chief Medical Officers' guideline for both men and women (published 2016) is that:

• To keep health risks from alcohol to a low level, it is safest not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis.
• If you regularly drink as much as 14 units a week, it's best to spread your drinking evenly over 3 or more days. One or two heavy drinking episodes a week increase the risk of death from long-term illness and from accidents and injuries.
• The risk of a range of health problems, including cancers of the mouth, throat and breast, increases the more you drink on a regular basis.
• If you want to cut down, a good way is to have several drink-free days each week.

The NHS says 14 units is about 6 pints of average-strength beer or 10 small glasses of lower-strength wine.

On a single occasion

To keep short-term risks low, the Chief Medical Officers advise:

• limiting the total amount you drink on any one occasion
• drinking more slowly, drinking with food and alternating with water
• planning ahead, for example making sure you can get home safely or have people you trust with you.

Avoid alcohol altogether when you're planning to drive, operate machinery or do anything risky.

Pregnancy

The Chief Medical Officers' guideline is that if you are pregnant or think you could become pregnant, the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all, to keep risks to your baby to a minimum.

What is a unit?

According to the NHS, one unit is 10 ml (8 g) of pure alcohol. To work out the units in a drink:

• strength (ABV %) × volume (ml) ÷ 1,000 = units

Some NHS examples:

• single small shot of spirits (25 ml, 40% ABV): 1 unit
• small glass of wine (125 ml, 12%): 1.5 units
• pint of lower-strength lager, beer or cider (3.6%): 2 units
• pint of higher-strength lager, beer or cider (5.2%): 3 units
• 750 ml bottle of wine (13.5%): 10 units

Units in cocktails

Our recipes give spirit measures in ml, so you can use the NHS formula. Many cocktails contain 50–60 ml of spirit, which at 40% ABV is 2–2.4 units before counting any liqueur, vermouth or wine. Drinks such as the Long Island Iced Tea and Zombie contain much more. Measure with a jigger rather than free-pouring, and try our alcohol-free mocktails.

Alcohol and young people

Our cocktail, beer and cider pages are for adults aged 18 and over. Under UK law (GOV.UK), if you're under 18 it's against the law for someone to sell you alcohol, for you to buy or try to buy it, for an adult to buy it for you, or for you to drink it in licensed premises. It is illegal to give alcohol to children under 5. Our milkshakes, smoothies and soft drinks are kept separate from the bar.

Getting help

• Your GP is a good place to start.
• Drinkline, the national alcohol helpline: 0300 123 1110 (weekdays 9am to 8pm, weekends 11am to 4pm, as listed by the NHS when we checked on 3 October 2026).
• The NHS alcohol support page lists further services, including Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, SMART Recovery and Nacoa.
• Drinkaware has tools and advice on cutting down.

If you are physically dependent on alcohol, stopping suddenly can be harmful. Get medical advice first (NHS).