The days of staggering back to the office after a boozy lunch seem to be a thing of the past.
We're partial to a swift pint occasionally at AccountingWEB towers, but according to research from Deliveroo, such behaviour is no longer tolerated by management.
Seven in ten British workers are likely to stick to soft drinks or water than drink alcohol at a business lunch.
While the boozy business lunch seem to less regular, that's not to say the profession is on the wagon. At a CIOT branch event in 2016, Rebecca Cave saw one delegate take a pint of beer into a VAT lecture.
What do you think? Are the days of getting tipsy with a client over an extended lunch gone?
Related resources
Replies (12)
Please login or register to join the discussion.
I like a swifty at Friday lunch. Some people, of course, don't drink - and that's fine. But I'd certainly never avoid a drink at lunch because of what my boss thought. Maybe I'd like to retain my full faculties, maybe I just fancy a ginger beer - whatever.
The policy should always be that if you behave like an adult - i.e. don't get plastered - then you can expect to be treated like one.
I have one group of clients where the final accounts meeting with them for the various entities tends to be followed by my taking a bottle of malt out of my briefcase and we then we dent the contents.
However this is not the norm and in fact a couple of them have been my next door neighbours for the last twenty years so I have known them for far longer than I have acted for them. (In fact I have known the son, now a partner in the business entities, since he seemed to ring the bell every 10 minutes asking if he could retrieve his football from my garden)
In addition a big plus point is that once the meeting is over I do not have far to travel.
My first client work when I started my ACA training in 1989 was a two week on site audit at Hammersmith and Fulham hospital.
It was a four person team and every lunchtime involved drinking in the students union - 4 pints followed by very little work in the afternoon.
Fortunately for my liver that wasn't 'work' didn't continue in that vein.
Back in the late 80's and 90's lunchtime drinking was a regular occurrence, perhaps the norm to do it 1/2 times a week.
One of my jobs in the late 90's was for a company born out of a de-nationalised part of British Rail. Union culture was strong and there was a strict no alcohol policy for all staff (not just drivers/trackside workers).
So if you did have a pint at lunchtime you weren't allowed back t work in the afternoon.
I remember when I started at HMRC in the 80's we had a two hour lunch every Friday at the pub. Back to the office at 3pm and left at 4pm.
I sometimes meet clients in a bar for meetings and if they have a drink, I do. Otherwise it's coffee.
I occasionally meet the wife for lunch and if I have no meetings in the afternoon, I will have a couple.
Yep. They were happy days. I remember once the District Inspector came in (when I was a lowly CA) and wouldn't let me go back to the office until we demolished half a bottle of whisky between us.
And he wasn't known for being the sociable type. I think some of my filing from that afternoon has still not been found.
[quote=Rammstein1]
I remember when I started at HMRC in the 80's we had a two hour lunch every Friday at the pub. Back to the office at 3pm and left at 4pm.
I too recall working for HMIT in the 1980s when every Friday was in the pub 1.00 till 3.00 and a lot more efficient HMRC was in those days although very little was done on Friday afternoon. The pub across the road from our office called the Horse and Trumpet was renamed The Headrow House Social Club.
During the 90's, now working in accountancy/tax went out once a month on a Friday but as time progressed these got fewer and fewer and now its never.
(Although I did have a boozy lunch to celebrate Yorkshire Day - well 3 pints of Taylors Landlord)
When I worked for HMRC in the 80s we were in a tower block on the 8th, 9th and 10th floors. The ground floor was a pub so it was a long lunch every Friday and then up in the lift for a quick finish to the day. The worst job of the week was to be put on the enquiry desk on a Friday afternoon as all the subbies would also be in the pub and then up to complain that their SC60 refunds had not come through!
Partially- there was actually an article in yesterday's Times indicating that there is a trend towards some younger people not drinking and that some of the universities apparently are setting up some alcohol free student accommodation and more and more non alcohol events are being featured within say Freshers programmes and clubs and societies.
This change in society is a bit of a blow to my prestige, the Sportsman's Bar at Teviot Row ,Edinburgh ,used to have a board with all the winners of the twice annual"Boat Race" competition, winning this with the "Wednesday Club" was my only notable achievement at university as we defeated the all conquering "Deep Throat" and "EUGDC" teams (Which one ought to note both had a few law students who are now respected members of the Edinbugh legal fraternity).
However in this world of health and safety the competition is no more and the board has been removed from the union building; I somehow feel akin to Rhodes when his statue was under threat at Oxford.
Even the medical profession has gone to the dogs, in my days medical students could pretty much outdrink anyone (Except Agrics, of course), these days they are all so responsible. (Went to be a few decent parties with the medics as a student-they knew an awful lot of nurses)
So, give it another 30-40 years and certainly rural pubs will likely be no more (fair few small places in Scottish Borders now have no hostelries and the trend looks like it will continue.), we are just no longer training our young to be excessive drinkers, the higher education system is yet again failing society.
I’m partial to the odd glass of vino at a business lunch. It is very dependent on the company I'm in and what I have on later in the day. Maybe I’m getting old but I'm not keen on a very boozy lunch anymore. I struggle with the hangover which seems to be getting worse as I get older.
I'm even quite sensible at the office Christmas party these days which isn't always easy when the prosecco is flowing. I love the stuff.
