In August 2018 the well-known chef-proprietor of Brunswick House and Orasay, Jackson Boxer, faced a stark choice. “I was increasingly losing sight of any idea that I could ever be happy. I think I’d come to expect that I was by nature an extreme, self-destructive and unhappy person and that was my lot.” He was drinking heavily and taking drugs. The long hours spent in the kitchens of his restaurants took their toll. “Sometimes I’d find myself still going in the morning,” he says. When he was young he had the stamina to keep up with it. Until he didn’t. “The young people who work for me aren’t nearly as self-destructive as I was.” So he took the decision to change his life and become sober.
Boxer exemplifies a step-change in the life of a city which has long been in love with alcohol. Hogarth looms large in London. Walk any street from Notting Hill to Shoreditch on a Saturday and you will find pubs pullulating with people. It is almost our national sport. And it’s a sport we play badly.
An increasing number of Londoners are now reassessing their relationship with alcohol. This can only be a good thing. There are 602,391 dependent drinkers in England, according to Alcohol Change UK. In 2019/20, there were 976,425 hospital admissions related to alcohol consumption. Close to half the world’s population (45 per cent) are sober but not many are Londoners. That said, the capital is recognising that people’s tastes are changing.
Jamie Reynolds of the Klaxons, a platinum-selling Mercury Prize winner, credits sobriety with giving him a level of clarity he never had before. Having turned away from drink in 2019, he describes the boredom of booze; its deadening effect. His parents were publicans and he drank for 26 years.
“I could tell which day of the week it was based on which club I was at.” Fun soon gave way to anxiety. “I was worried about the future,” he says. “Worried about the past and confused about everything.” As he explains, he avoided bars and pubs for a while. But he has found an equilibrium now and was DJing at Glastonbury last month.
Victoria Harrison — or DJ Amazonica — has toured with some of the biggest bands in the world and her route to sobriety was an unusual one. She first went to a club aged 11 and, in the years after, experienced the many excesses of London nightlife. She credits a friend for the change in her life. “He told me he was going on tour, but had actually gone to rehab,” she says. When he came back and told her the truth, she had been out all night and was still awake. This is when she made the decision to go to a 12-step meeting. It was then that life took off and she started DJing. London today is a changed place, as Harrison says. “I became sober in America. Years ago when I was in town, people would try and get me to drink. Being sober, they thought it was an LA thing. Nowadays it’s all different. People are so supportive.” Kate Moss, Cara Delevingne and a whole cadre of people who have felt the pull of a free drinks party have calmed down and forsworn booze.
I can go to clubs, I can go to bars, I can go to restaurants, and I’m very comfortable
This is something recognised by London’s bartenders too. Ryan Chetiyawardana of Lyaness and Seed Library, says: “The key thing that has changed — particularly post-pandemic — is that a wider set [of people] have acknowledged the importance of social spaces, so they are coming to bars for a wider set of occasions and times, so we get a bigger uptake of boozeless drinks, even from usual drinkers, as they are using the spaces for different types of catch-ups.” The non-alcoholic drinks market, valued at $820 billion in 2020, is forecast to reach an estimated $2,134.6 billion by 2031.
Being sober, they thought it was an LA thing. Nowadays it’s all different
Boxer certainly knows it. “I can go to clubs, I can go to bars, I can go to restaurants, and I’m very comfortable. Being around people drinking and not drinking myself. I’m very relaxed. London is much more sober-friendly than it was.”
Does he miss booze? “I do miss it. I’m not gonna lie when I see my friends having a lovely time and enjoying delicious wine. Yeah, it tugs at me, and I wish I could join in. But I know that what I’ve gained from not drinking is so enormous and invaluable. And I cherish it so much. And frankly, I’m proud of myself for what I’ve achieved through giving up this thing that I really enjoyed.”
India Rose James, curator of the Soho Revue Gallery and owner of large swathes of Soho, also made the decision to go sober. “My mum was an addict, she passed away. I saw my life potentially going in that direction and wanted to put a stop to it. I wanted to be sober for my daughter and for myself. I’m five years now.” Since becoming sober she has found a new focus. Especially in making Soho the haven for artists it once was.
This change in sensibilities has not gone unnoticed by the city’s clubs. In May, the Ministry of Sound put on a Dry Disco. It ran from 10.30am to 7pm. The festival was all about relaxing. There were breathwork workshops, spa treatments, dance workshops, and panel talks on sobriety.
The young people who work for me aren’t nearly as self-destructive as I was
The nightclub had not been known for such sedateness. But life has changed, and so has commerce. Perhaps it was the pandemic, perhaps it is a new-found focus on health, but it can only be a good thing.
“Bars have always been about socialising, not just about booze,” says Lyan. “We constantly reiterate that we bring people together not just put things on a plate, or in a glass. Boozeless drinks have been a key offering in the Lyan venues since the beginning.”
The journey to sobriety is hard for many of us but it is fulfilling. “It’s been slow, but very steady,” Boxer says. “I found myself. Ultimately I decided and discovered that existence wasn’t a huge burden to be carried around with me and battled with every day. But that life should be celebrated.”
