Removing the largest serving of wine by the glass option – usually the 250ml measure – reduced the amount of wine sold at pubs and bars, a study has found.  

Cambridgeshire pubs and bars were among the watering holes that participated in the research carried out by the University of Cambridge.  

Researchers found removing the largest serving reduced the amount of wine sold by just under eight per cent, suggesting it could be a way of nudging people to booze less.  

The experts added that even a small reduction in how much alcohol people drink could make a meaningful contribution to the health of the population.  

Taking into consideration factors such as day of the week and total revenue, scientists found removing the largest wine glass serving led to an average decrease of 420ml of wine sold per day per venue – a 7.6% decrease.  

They also found no evidence people were making up for drinking less wine by buying more beer or cider.  

According to the findings, there was no evidence it affected total daily revenues, implying that participating licensed premises did not lose money removing the largest serving size for glasses of wine.  

This was perhaps due to the higher profit margins of smaller serving sizes of wine, the experts suggest.  

However, the study, funded by Wellcome, was not designed to provide meaningful data on these points.  

First author Dr Eleni Mantzari, from the University of Cambridge, said: “It looks like when the largest serving size of wine by the glass was unavailable, people shifted towards the smaller options, but didn’t then drink the equivalent amount of wine.” 

In the new research, published in Plos Medicine, the researchers used 21 licensed premises (mainly pubs) in England in locations including Cambridgeshire, London and Southampton. 

Twenty completed the experiment between September 2021 and May 2022.  

Managers at four of the 21 premises received complaints from customers.