One in 10 Irish shoppers to buy alcohol in North

A STAGGERING 10% of Irish shopppers will be heading north to buy alcohol by the end of the year, it has emerged.

The Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI) yesterday outlined new data from Nielsen Ireland which shows off-licence sales here have already plummeted by 7%, while stores in Northern Ireland are reporting a 30% increase in sales to the end of August.

The group also pointed to figures from TNS Worldpanel, which show some 250,000 households are now doing their grocery shopping in Northern Ireland; an increase of 25% on the figure of 200,000 recorded at the end of December 2008.