LONDON – For most Brits, drinking beer means going down to the local pub and having a pint of bitter with friends and neighbors. But that appears to be changing. Last year, for the first time, U.K. pubs, clubs, restaurants and hotels sold less beer than off-license and grocery stores, The Guardian reports.

Fifty-one percent of beer was sold off-trade, meaning in packaging to be consumed off the premises. Places to purchase and drink beer have been giving way to supermarkets for years, partly because of the inability of on-site licenses to offer competitive prices against promos for popular lager brands.

Changing consumer tastes also has influenced the switch to drinking at home, with the popularity of wine rising steadily and siphoning market share from pub beer. Overall, the level of beer consumption in the United Kingdom hasn’t dropped during the last four years.

In addition, the number of British pubs has continued to decline, with only 50,800 public houses in business last year, a significant drop from 58,200 in 2005. The British Beer and Pub Association, which released the statistics this week, pointed to the high beer duty rate as a cause for concern. “The U.K.’s high duty rate on beer is still a cause for concern. We will continue to work with the government to bring our rate more in line with other European nations and help better support our industry,” said Brigid Simmonds, CEO of the association.