Once upon a time there was a young man called Dave, who spent his leisure hours pursuing interesting activities such as rambling, theatres, writing etc. Then he discovered alcohol.

As Dave's social circle increased to encompass various different groups who's only hobbies involved going to the pub, he began to notice he was spending more and more time getting hammered, making a fool of himself, and waking up with a monumental hangover. Eventually (although it took far too long), Dave figured that this wasn't the life for him, and decided to do something constructive with his existence.

Now, the dilemma that Dave has is that he doesn't want to suddenly just cut out all of his drinking mates out, because, drinking aside, they're a decent sort, and he'd be fairly lonely without them. However, something has to be done, before his brain starts to resemble Ozzy Osbourne's.

Does anyone have any suggestions, or can anyone say they've been in a similar situation?

I remember a time when I thought my entire future was going to be spent in some pub. And that seemed reasonable to me, thinking what else is there to do, that it's a love of my life to go to pubs and to slowly get wrecked.

I still love pubs, still spend too much time and money in them but they are not the be-all and end-all to my life. I think it depends on your age and at what stage you're at in life. I guess the change came around with my first mortgage - now having one of those hanging from your neck like a millstone goes a long way into stopping you putting all your money over the bar!

Then I found, along with having a place of my own, it made sense to drink at home. Works out a lot cheaper. Then I got used to having a drink at home, but I still managed to get out regularly.

Marriage followed, kids came along. When my first daughter was born, I must have stopped in for at least a year. It was a bit difficult at first, but it gave us the opportunity to have friends round and to drink at home. Still, one of us knew we might be up all night, so it was like having a decent drink every fortnight.

It's only in the last couple of years that I'm managing to get out again. We take the kids on Sundays but don't spend the whole day in pubs. I'd imagine that when the kids are in their teens then if I want, I could spend my time in pubs again.

But I doubt very much if I would. I appreciate going to the pub more now because I go less. Still drink too much and spend too much, but I've accepted that my life has taken a couple of turns and they're definitely for the better.

I could live even longer, who knows?

I've been seriously considering just stopping drinking for a while. Just fed up with the effects of booze (and plus I smoke when I drink so 2 birds with one stone)

Problem is that its horrible spending an evening in the pub sober whilst everyone else gets drunk. Also a lot of my mates I only see in pubs.

My problem is that, although I become very confident and sociable after a few drinks, I also become very loudmouthed and offensive after a lot of drinks. It's no good just going out for a couple either, because once I'm into it, I just don't want to go home again.

When I was 19 I started to resemble an alcoholic as ALL my socialising was done in pubs...so I got a job in one...3 shifts a week I took the car so wasn't tempted to drink - worked in my local so couldn't miss out on the gossip etc and became very popular so got tips you would not believe.....:thumbsup:

I gave up drinking and managed to keep all my drinking mates. They were very understanding. Try suggesting that you go to somewhere that doesn't make you feel pressured into drinking alcohol. Invite your mates round for a meal (say bring your own take away) and watch some videos. Don't bother mentioning that your cutting down on drinking. Drink apple juice - it looks like wine, or shandy made with loads of lemonade and a tiny bit of beer. Don't make the mistake that I did i.e. knocking back about 4 large glasses of apple juice in the space of 10 minutes, It took a while to realise why everyone was staring at me open mouthed! If your mates try to encourage you to drink it's to make themselves feel better about consuming too much booze so ignore them!