Many Melbournites prefer to travel for a drink over heading to their local

Publicly released:
Australia; International; VIC
Photo by Luca Bravo on Unsplash
Photo by Luca Bravo on Unsplash

A Melbourne resident may be just as likely to travel outside their neighbourhood to go to a pub or bar as they are to visit their local, according to Australian researchers. The team were investigating the question of whether a greater density of bars and liquor stores in a neighbourhood increases the amount local residents drink - a question they say has so far proved difficult to answer. To understand how frequently people drink within their neighbourhood compared to outside it, the researchers used data from a Victorian household travel survey, looking specifically at trips to liquor stores and pubs/bars. They say 47% of the trips to bars and 23% of trips to liquor stores recorded by the survey were outside the participants' local government area. While they say the data available from the survey was limited, these statistics suggest a trip to the local bar is not necessarily the norm for a drinking session, and drinking behaviour is likely influenced by more than just a person's local environment.

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Research Wiley, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends
Journal/
conference:
Drug and Alcohol Review
Research:Paper
Organisation/s: Monash University, Columbia University, USA
Funder: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Grant/Award Numbers: F31AA031193, K01AA026327, R01AA029112; National Institute on Drug Abuse, Grant/Award Number: T32DA031099; National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Grant/Award Number: R49CE003094
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