An off-licence is a shop licensed to sell alcohol for drinking somewhere else. The name comes straight from licensing law: a pub holds an on-licence, permitting consumption on the premises, and a shop holds an off-licence, permitting sale only for consumption off them.
Everyone calls it the offie.
What it is like
The classic independent off-licence is a small shop, often on a corner or a parade, with beer and cider in a chilled cabinet, wine on shelves, spirits behind the counter, and a sideline in crisps, cigarettes, soft drinks and — frequently — a hot food counter or a cash machine.
It opens late, when the supermarkets have shut, which is a substantial part of its business model.
The chains and the decline
The dedicated off-licence chain has had a difficult forty years, squeezed from both sides:
- Supermarkets sell alcohol freely alongside groceries, at prices an independent cannot match, and Britain has no law preventing it.
- Convenience formats from the big grocers moved onto the same high streets.
Threshers, Victoria Wine, Oddbins and Wine Rack were once on every high street; most collapsed or shrank drastically in the 2000s. Bargain Booze and Majestic Wine survive with different models — one on price, the other on selling by the case with advice.
What has grown instead is the independent specialist: small shops selling craft beer, natural wine and unusual spirits, often with a licence to drink in as well, which blurs the on/off distinction the name was built on.
Buying alcohol in Britain
The practical rules, which differ from much of America:
- The legal age to buy is 18.
- Challenge 25 is a near-universal retail policy: if you look under 25, you will be asked for ID even if you are well over 18. Staff are trained to refuse without it, and they do.
- Accepted ID is a passport, a photo driving licence or a PASS-accredited card. An American driving licence is frequently not accepted, which catches visitors out.
- Supermarkets sell alcohol at any hour they are open in England and Wales — there is no separate liquor store requirement.
- Scotland restricts alcohol sales to between 10am and 10pm, and has minimum unit pricing, which makes cheap strong drink noticeably more expensive there.
Drinking in public
There is no blanket national ban on drinking in the street in England and Wales — a can on a park bench is not automatically an offence. But councils can and do impose Public Spaces Protection Orders covering town centres, and within those an officer can require you to stop and confiscate the drink.
The practical position is that drinking in a park or at the beach is normal and unremarkable; drinking in a designated town centre after dark will get you moved on.