In late 2024, insurance provider Aviva https://www.aviva.com/newsroom reported that nearly half (48%) of British adults plan to either stop drinking alcohol altogether or significantly cut back. The shift is even more pronounced among younger generations: 61% of 18–24-year-olds intend to reduce...

As an American who has lived and worked in eight countries and visited dozens more, I never experienced such significant culture shock as when I moved to the UK. In the fall of 2018, I arrived in the county to begin my master’s degree at the University of Manchester. I struggled with the transition in ways I hadn’t expected, but one event helped to turn that around for me — the Manchester Coffee Festival.