For 54 years, Pimm’s has been as much a part of the Wimbledon experience as strawberries and cream, with 300,000 glasses sold each fortnight.
And now Wimbledon has experimented with creating a mocktail in the style of the beloved fruity punch owing to the growing demand for alcohol-free options at the championships.
The club has introduced Stella Artois’ booze-free beer on draught and mocktails made from non-alcoholic sparkling wines and spirits amid the move towards sobriety among gen Z.
Charlie Cook, the business director of food and drink at Wimbledon, said: “We look at market trends. Within our business we employ a food and drink futurist to look at where those trends are going. The younger generations are looking for lower or non-alcoholic offerings.”
Staff at SW19 said there had been demand for Stella’s 0.0 offering and an uptick in customers asking for an alcohol-free version of Pimm’s.
Cook said the club had yet to perfect a mocktail to fill the gap. “We’ve tried a version using balsamic, which has a quite similar flavour profile, but we haven’t really cracked that one yet. It would be a good one though,” he said.
Wimbledon later stressed it was not attempting to create a booze-free Pimm’s but a drink inspired by the popular beverage.
Destiny Olusegun, 22, a bar manager at the grounds, said spectators were keen to try an alcohol-free version of the summer cocktail that has long been synonymous with the championships.
“Quite a few people come up and ask for non-alcoholic Pimm’s,” he said. “A lot of people aren’t from here [the UK], so Pimm’s is like a massive Wimbledon phenomenon. If everyone else is having a Pimm’s or a beer, you don’t want to have a soft drink. You want a nice drink.”
A staff member at the Pimm’s stall on the Hill had had a similar experience. “People do ask quite a lot, especially if they are pregnant, what sort of non-alcoholic versions we have. I worked here last year and people were asking the same thing,” she said.
“I’d say around one in 50 people ask if there’s a non-alcoholic version of Pimm’s. Some people will also ask if we can do half pints as well, older people in particular. But young people ask as well – especially pregnant women.”
Wimbledon has been offering a mocktail spritz which includes non-alcoholic gin, sugar syrup and pink grapefruit soda for £12.60 and a 0% paloma made from a booze-free bergamot aperitif for £10.40.
Olusegun said demand for non-alcoholic drinks had grown in his three years at Wimbledon and suggested they were most popular among those aged 25 to 50.
“People are shifting away from alcohol,” he said. “People are more conscious of what they’re drinking, how they’re drinking, – especially if you’re going to be here all day. You don’t want to be drinking 20 pints, but you may still like a drink and be able to engage in the same social culture, be able to cheers your beer, have something cold.
“Having a non-alcoholic Pimm’s option, even if it was just in a can, would still give people that feeling of being included.”
