The licensing laws governing retail outlets for alcohol are overdue for reform, and taxation may be brought down closer to EU averages. Pressure on prices will increase in the take-home sector, where the largest multiple grocers have policies of attracting customers with drinks promotions. A pioneering wine shop group, Oddbins, is likely to be sold in 2000, and Majestic Warehouses is the largest in its sector. The withdrawal of British companies such as Bass, Whitbread and Allied Domecq means that international lager brands will continue to grow. Wine with meals is now an accepted part of the British lifestyle, although almost all of it has to be imported.
Wine is the last remaining fragmented drinks market.
Spirits and liqueurs is a static market, with a high proportion of its value being taxes. Based on the international popularity of Scotch, UK spirits firms operate on the global stage. Most of the fortified wines are in permanent decline, with port bucking the trend. The PPS is the current favourite among younger drinkers, having taken over from the notorious alcopops of the mid-1990s. Soft drinks depend on the summer weather each year but the underlying trend in volume is upwards, and 1999 was the best year for a while.