Alcohol sales in Oxford have soared during “dry” January.

Spending on booze in the city rose by 83 per cent with shoppers forking out £40 for tipples on every visit to the store.

Last January shoppers spent only £22 per visit.

Dry January is when people commit to abstaining from drinking for a month.

Oxford came second only to Ipswich for the biggest increase in alcohol spend, according to Dojo, a secure payments provider.

Dojo suggests that Oxford residents were bulk buying because they did not want to venture out during the pandemic or were socializing over the internet.

London saw the biggest decrease in sales perhaps due to workers returning to their home towns during lockdown and a rise in people moving to the countryside.

Jon Knott, head of customer insights at Dojo, said: “Lockdown fatigue has made us rethink dry January. This means we could be swapping the weekend drinks for more throughout the week.”

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