INVARIABLY when I read survey results my first thought is, "Who are these people?"

After a long weekend at a music festival and several evenings strolling through Glasgow city centre, the notion that young people are giving up the drink is laughable.

And yet, and yet, a report by a hospitality research company called Kam states that about 29 per cent of visits to pubs are now entirely dry, as are 37 per cent of restaurant meals.

This, the survey says, is being largely led by young people who are reducing their intake with a view to improving their health.

While the drop in drinker numbers is highest among those aged 16 to 24, across the population the number of teetotallers has risen by three per cent since 2015.

Presumably those aged 16 and 17, who shouldn't be drinking, are fudging the survey results to some degree but, even taking that into account, it seems the youth are aff it.

During the pandemic, there was a surge in the intake of alcohol - stuck at home, little else to do, umpteen cocktail making courses running on Zoom – but this trend is very swiftly reversing.

You can see the appeal of going out for dinner and only having tap water. The allure of dining out really is the food and, in a cost of living crisis, if you can afford to dine out you might like to cut financial corners on wine.

Having a dry time in the pub is another matter but does make some degree of sense. Those wedded to their local have always claimed it was about the atmosphere and not about the alcohol. Maybe we're happy now just to be back in the company of our pals.

As well as having an eye on their health, respondents also said they wanted time and energy to enjoy other pursuits, which is perhaps why sales of a new anti-hangover pill have been soaring in Britain. That, and our world-renowned ill relationship with alcohol.

De Faire Medical, the Swedish firm behind Myrkl, a pro-biotic remedy designed to alleviate the morning after pain of a good night before, are cautious in its marketing material.

They are not suggesting you go out and smash it then expect to feel fresh as a daisy. Instead they say it's a pre-drinking pill for "regular moderate drinkers to wake up feeling their best the next day”.

The pill sold out before its UK launch. In an interview given to a British broadsheet, the firm expressed no surprise at this, saying it had expected us to be its biggest market. Given everything else going on in the world, at least we're meeting expectations in one regard, though it's nothing particularly to boast about.

The target market is the over-40s, those for whom decreasing amounts of drink lead still to increasing morning after agony. As my friends one by one break the barrier of 40 they talk about this phenomenon, the horror of having a two-drink hangover. Of barely touching the bottle yet the next day feeling like a walrus is playing ping-pong with their brain.

It seems to be tempting fate, inventing a hangover cure. Those who might get the wrong end of the stick could be inclined to drink themselves silly on the misapprehension Myrkl will cancel out the damage. And at £1 a pop, there's nothing but common sense to stop them.

Tying all the booze headline neatly together has been another story: a wide-scale study from the University of Washington in Seattle showing that people under 40 shouldn't drink at all while there are some, but limited, benefits for those aged 40-plus.

Four years ago the same researchers recommended that governments tell citizens not to drink at all, but now their findings have changed and they recommend sobriety for young folk and a small amount of drink for everyone else.

Politicians need worry less about the under-40s as the weans are weaning themselves off the drink anyway. The over-40s have now got their hangover cure to hand.

There's been decades worth of agonising over Britain's booze culture with it rare that government-introduced measures made any dent in our drinking. If people are giving up alcohol because they've got better things to do then the introduction of Myrkl couldn't come at a worse time. The hangover is the one thing that prompts moderation in social drinkers.

Remove that barrier and chaos ensues, as if we're not chaotic enough. On the alcohol front there's been a lot to take in and with one thing in common - it's all sobering stuff.