Banking on the booze

Justin, a 34-year-old broker, knows only too well how ruinous working in the City can be, with its relentless culture of lavish entertainment and corporate camaraderie. “I’m out with clients three or four nights a week,” he says. “It’s easy to have five pints, plus a bottle or two of wine, in a night. The booze makes me feel more confident.” When Justin goes out with clients, they can easily spend more than the average monthly salary in one night. Recently, at a top London restaurant, he and three other men ran up a bill of £2,700, which included bottles of St-Estèphe 1978 and Vega Sicilia 1990, both costing hundreds of pounds, and a Rémy Martin cognac that costs nearly £200 a shot. Playing at being a wine buff, admits Justin, gives him an aura of sophistication that makes him feel he’s in no danger of becoming a binge drinker.

“For a long time, I didn’t want to admit there was anything wrong,” he says. “Everyone I work with has a similar lifestyle, so I thought of it as normal. You just keep pace. I began to want a drink earlier and earlier in the day, until one day, I was getting my morning latte and found myself wishing it was time for my first glass of red. One guy on my team used to sip whisky from a hip flask before a stressful negotiation. It started as an office joke, but eventually I got one, too. I thought I was okay because I often had alcohol-free days. It was only when my girlfriend told me I had to stop for a month — and by the third day, I was sweating and shaking — that I realised I had a problem. She told me to seek help or she would finish with me, so I went to an addiction counsellor.” So far, though, Justin has been unable to quit.

“The drink does affect my health, although I don’t get bad hangovers. I get puffed out easily. I used to jog and play five-a-side football, but I can’t any more. My sex life has suffered too — I just don’t have the inclination. When I get home after seeing clients, I fall into bed and sleep. At the weekend, I’m irritable and end up arguing with my girlfriend. I wouldn’t be surprised if she soon decides she’s had enough. The only way I could stop would be to change profession — but I can’t think of another job that would pay even half as much.”

Alcoholics Anonymous holds up to 22 meetings a week across the City of London and has just opened a branch in Canary Wharf to meet increasing demand. A spokesman for AA says there were “substantially fewer” meetings a decade ago, reflecting the current increase in demand sweeping through investment banks and firms of brokers, traders, lawyers and accountants.

Helen Symons, of the charity Alcohol Concern, says: “We’re very aware of a big drinking culture across the financial areas of London. There’s the feeling that people who go to posh restaurants with colleagues or clients and order lots of expensive wine don’t have a problem, because it’s all so civilised. They see drinking a bottle or two of wine each as different to the tramp on the park bench drinking cans of strong lager. But really, it’s the same — it’s not how much the alcohol costs that matters, but how much you drink.”

The clinical hypnotherapist Georgia Foster says about a third of her clients — mostly professionals and financial types — have alcohol-related problems. “Drinking in the City is like a sport, although the consequences are swept under the carpet,” she says. “Some of my clients can easily drink a bottle of wine at lunch and another after work. We all have an inner anxiety — I call it our inner critic — that tells us we’re not doing things well. Alcohol suppresses that and gives us confidence. The problem is the inner critic comes back, stronger and fiercer, when you sober up, so you drink even more to bolster your confidence, and the cycle continues. It’s all too easy to get into this sort of situation — it can happen to any of us — and unless you get help or sort it out, it can easily wreck your life.”

One broker who has recently become sober points out that the City has a culture where non-drinkers are viewed as social pariahs. “Since I put an end to my two-bottle lunches,” he says, “I’ve noticed I’m often the last to know about what’s going on. The City thrives on gossip for making and breaking deals and getting new clients. I’m not out there at 11am drinking with the other brokers, and it’s affecting my job.”

He points out that Blackberries and wi-fi connections allow people to drink while they work: “They can carry on their negotiations from the comfort of their favourite bars. Their line managers don’t care — half the time, they’re drinking with them. As long as the deals get done, everyone is happy. There’s no getting any sense out of them in the afternoon — on Fridays, especially, it’s carnage.”

Dr Neil Brener, medical director of the Priory Hospital, practises in the City, where, he says, alcohol-dependency is rife. “High-performing alcoholics appear to be successful,” he says. “Yet they hide the extent of their problems from themselves and others. They are really in denial, and are often the last to admit there’s a problem with alcohol, despite what their friends and family tell them.”

He observes that many of his City clients end up with drink problems due to working in a culture that normalises excess: “People often say, ‘I don’t drink more than my colleagues,’ but it’s not the quantity you drink, it’s how the drinking behaviour affects you that matters. One man I saw drank three bottles of vodka a day, and I’ve seen a few City people who put away a bottle of vodka or whisky a day and continue to hold down a job and a life.”

Brener typically sees new patients when they have reached the crisis point of no longer being able to work. They usually attribute this to stress rather than problem-drinking. “It can be hard for these people to accept they have a problem,” he says. “Sometimes, when I raise the subject of their drinking, they storm out of my office, although many come back eventually. It’s all about cracking the denial.”

DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM

# Revised government guidelines state that men should not exceed three or four units of alcohol per day. Calculating the units in a glass of wine can be particularly hazardous — one unit is just a small, 125ml glass of 8% abv wine.

# If you can’t go for a day without a drink, you have a problem. Signs include using alcohol to cope with problems, feeling guilty after a drinking bout and missing work or turning up late.

# Alcohol-abusers often get angry or upset if anyone comments on their high levels of drinking, may have lost friends as their problem continues and will feel more at ease around other people when drinking.

# If you’ve been in trouble with the police because of alcohol- related behaviour, or have to borrow or steal money to pay for drinks, you’re probably at risk. Serious drinkers often need to drink ever-increasing quantities to get the effect they want, and may also have a family history of alcohol abuse.

# Anyone drinking a bottle of wine daily (or four to five pints) is likely to be jeopardising their health, work and home life.

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT

# If you are just in the habit of drinking a lot (rather than alcohol- dependent), the key is to cut down on the amount you drink and increase the number of days you go without drinking at all.

# Taking it a day at a time will help. Tell little white lies that help preserve your reputation or dignity, such as saying that you’ve got to pick the kids up in the car later that evening so have to stick to orange juice.

# The only solution for genuine alcoholics is to abstain completely — even the smallest drop can send them off the wagon. Intensive rehab treatment, such as at the Priory, can mean several months out of the office, but could be a life-saver.

Sunday Times