Pre-lashing

Pre-lashing, pre-drinking, pre-loading, terms which every student will be all too familiar with; the notion that binging on cheap alcohol before a night out will lessen the blow to your student loan, but is this the reality?

What dignity?

With the increasing gap in what pubs and clubs are charging compared to the price of alcohol in supermarkets the general idea seems perfectly logical, yet studies have suggested pre-drinkers are in actual fact 75% more likely to drink heavily over the course of a night; hardly surprising statistics.

On the face of things, pre-drinking may seem like a sure-fire solution to student poverty. Although, whilst we may like to think we are able to pace ourselves, the reality is often not quite so dignifying. Unless of course you are able to retain some level of self-control under the influence, or are unlucky enough to pass out before you make it out the door, waking up in the morning lying in a bed of receipts, wondering what possessed you to begin using your card, can be an all too familiar story. With each drink making the next seem all the more appealing; not to mention the increasingly inevitable trip to the kebab shop on the crawl home, the cheap night you once hope for is quick to fade. Only your overdraft can save you now.

Pre-lash LADs

Following increasing concerns that pre-lashing leads students to ‘lose their inhibitions putting them at risk of dangerous behaviour’, recent proposals by the government have suggested implementing a minimum price of 45p a unit in England and Wales, following Scotland’s lead, where a 50p minimum is set to be introduced in April this year, in an attempt to kerb pre-drinking. So you can say goodbye to value wine and hello to cheap nights in revising with new regulations setting the minimum price at a shocking £4.22 a bottle!

Whilst government reports seem confident ending cheap booze sales will lessen the issues caused by excessive drinking it seems all the more likely that cutbacks will be made elsewhere in the student budget; after all, eating is cheating.