NEWS COPY
Cheers! Brits will spend £90,942 and more than 14 months of their life - at the PUB, a study has found.
The average adult spends just over three hours a week at their local, supping food and drinks worth almost £28 each time.
This means a total of just under seven days a year - the equivalent of more than one year and two months over the average adult lifetime will be spent in the pub.
It also emerged 13,104 alcoholic drinks and 3,276 shots will be sunk in the pub between the ages of 18 and 81.
Kevin Smith, a spokesman for online market researchers OnePoll, which commissioned the research, said: "The traditional pub is a British institution and are still a huge part of our culture.
"Some see a trip to the pub as a way of winding down at the end of a long day at work, while for others, it's more about big nights out to celebrate a special event.
"For many couples, it's just a way to escape the kids, tuck into some nice food and catch up with their other half over a cold beer or wine.
"Either way, it seems we are still spending a large amount of our time and money in pubs."
Simply catching up with friends is the most popular reason to visit the pub, followed by to have a quiet drink and to get away from the partner and/or the children.
Watching the football and wanting to unwind after a long day at work also sees Brits head for their local.
But the study, of 2,000 people, found there is still dispute about rounds with more than one in four admitting they try to avoid having to get the drinks in.
Drinking so slowly that someone else ends up stepping in to get the next round is the most common way to dodge a turn, followed by holding the door open for the group so you get to the bar last.
Other ways to avoid getting a round in include going to the toilet when it's your turn, pretending to have forgotten your wallet or making an 'important' phone call just as everyone's drinks are running out.
But while three quarters of those successfully get out of getting a round in, three in ten have been caught trying to dodge it.
One sneaky punter pretended to be sick when he failed to cough up for a round while another jammy dodger tried to charge a round to his friend's debit card behind the bar - until the bar manager announced his trickery to the rest of the pub.
A quarter of adults even admitted to buying cheaper drinks when it's their turn but make an expensive choice when someone else is getting the drinks in.
As a result, one in ten Brits have even ended up in a row with their drinking buddies over a round
A spokesman for OnePoll added: "It's not unexpected that people round dodge on an occasional basis, but the extent some will go to is quite amazing."
Top ten ways to avoid buying a round:
1. Drink slowly when it's your turn so someone else buys the drinks
2. Hold the door open to let the group in so you were at the back when you get to the bar
3. Go to the toilet when it is your round
4. Bought a round as early as possible in the night to avoid expensive rounds of shots later on
5. Pretend to have an important phone call when it is your turn to buy a round
6. Pretend to forgot your wallet
7. Wait until last in the hope people have gone home when it gets to your turn
8. Go out for a cigarette when it is your turn
9. Said you had to go as it was approaching your turn
10. Talk about how skint you are to make your friends feel guilty about asking
ENDS
