Alcohol-free beer has been added to the UK’s official inflation basket, in a move that underlines changing consumer habits and the growing shift towards healthier lifestyles.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed that the product will join more than 760 goods and services used to calculate key inflation measures, including the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), the Retail Prices Index (RPI) and CPIH — its preferred gauge of price growth.
The inclusion reflects a marked rise in demand for low- and no-alcohol alternatives, with the ONS citing increased sales volumes, wider product ranges and greater shelf space dedicated to alcohol-free options across UK retailers. The move is widely seen as recognition of a broader cultural shift, particularly among younger consumers and professionals prioritising wellbeing.
Alongside alcohol-free beer, hummus and pet grooming have also been added to the basket, highlighting how evolving lifestyle choices are reshaping the cost-of-living calculation. The ONS said hummus had gained prominence due to its growing popularity among health-conscious consumers, with UK spending on the product estimated to have reached around £170 million in 2024.
Pet grooming, meanwhile, reflects the continued boom in pet ownership, particularly among smaller, high-maintenance breeds, and the increasing willingness of households to spend on services rather than just goods. Analysts note that services inflation has become a key driver of overall price pressures in recent years, making its accurate representation in the basket increasingly important.
The annual update to the basket is designed to ensure inflation data remains aligned with real-world spending patterns. Items that decline in relevance are removed to make room for emerging trends. This year, bottled premium lager purchased in pubs and restaurants has been dropped, alongside traditional sheets of wrapping paper, which are being replaced by rolls that better reflect modern purchasing behaviour.
Other additions include dashboard cameras and motorhomes, both of which have seen rising demand. Dashcams have grown in popularity as motorists seek to reduce insurance costs and improve security, while motorhomes have benefited from lifestyle shifts following the pandemic and a rise in early retirement trends.
The updated basket will be used in the next set of inflation figures, due to be published on 25 March, and comes at a time of heightened sensitivity around the cost of living. While inflation eased to 3 per cent in January, down from 3.4 per cent in December, economists expect renewed upward pressure in the coming months, driven in part by surging global energy prices linked to the ongoing Middle East conflict.
The Bank of England, which targets inflation at 2 per cent, is widely expected to hold interest rates at 3.75 per cent at its next meeting, as policymakers weigh the risk of rising fuel and transport costs feeding through into broader price increases.
In parallel with the basket update, the ONS is also modernising how inflation is measured. A new system will draw on vast datasets from retailers, analysing around 300 million price points across more than one billion products each month. This marks a significant shift away from traditional in-store price collection, which relied on around 25,000 manually gathered data points.
The move towards real-time, high-volume data is expected to improve the accuracy and responsiveness of inflation reporting, particularly in fast-moving sectors such as groceries, energy and consumer goods.
For households, however, the underlying message remains unchanged. Despite some easing in headline inflation, rising energy costs and global uncertainty mean the pressure on everyday spending is unlikely to disappear any time soon. The inclusion of alcohol-free beer, hummus and pet grooming may signal changing lifestyles, but it also reflects the broader reality that the cost of modern living continues to evolve.
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Alcohol-free beer, hummus and pet grooming join inflation basket as UK spending habits shift