Perhaps someone should call 'Time'

As with many topics which arise on this forum there is no one answer or approach - so much depends on the circumstances and factors involved. As others have already mentioned, the matter of whether it is acceptable or not for people to drink alcohol during working hours depends on many aspects. These include what type/s of work they do, whether their work involves driving and/or if they will be driving home after work. Alcohol dosage (in terms of strength and volume) is also significant along with how susceptible an individual is to it, e.g. in relation to gender, body size and metabolism, consumed with or without food plus possible interactions with any medication they might be taking.

One scenario which hasn't been mentioned yet on this thread is that of farewell events at workplaces. In my experience such events organised by or for people retiring or changing jobs have traditionally been accompanied by the provision of free drink, mostly alcohol, and food for those attending. At my former workplace, a local authority HQ where hundreds of employees were based, farewell events were quite regular occurrences and tended to be held mid/late afternoon on Fridays. It seemed that some people would enjoy a glass or two of wine or beer - no problem for them if they weren't driving home afterwards - while most, quite sensibly, would opt for fruit juice. As a result, the few cartons of juice on the drinks table at each event tended to be emptied first and the organiser/s would be left with untouched wine and beer. Over the years it seemed that the individuals involved in organising such events realised this and tended to buy greater quantities of juice. This trend might have been helped at times by prompting from some of us in the OSH team, plus the fact that juice is cheaper to buy than booze!

On a related note, my former workplace had a licensed bar and waitress-service dining room adjacent to the main staff canteen/restaurant when I started there in the late 1980s. It seemed highly hypocritical that managers and others based at the workplace could consume alcohol at lunchtime if they wished while manual staff, e.g. refuse collectors, were liable to strong disciplinary action if managers became aware that they had entered a pub during working hours. Thankfully, the bar facility was scrapped within a year or two for a mixture of reasons including the fact that relatively few people used it and its existence was uneconomic for a perpetually cost-conscious organisation.

p.s. For those unfamiliar with POETS day mentioned at #38, it's an abbreviation of "Push Off Early, Tomorrow's Saturday" and reflects the fact that a fair proportion of people in the UK tend to finish work earlier on a Friday than on other weekdays. Some companies even close at lunchtime on Fridays, especially if the have longish working hours during the rest of each week. Another abbreviation related to Fridays is TGIF which stands for "Thank Goodness It's Friday (or similar). A friend of mine has a tie which displays TGIF with a beer tankard motif - which hints at the penchant held by some work people to drink alcohol at lunchtime or after work on a Friday - ideally if the boss is paying for it as mooted at #9 and #10 !!! :-)

And I can virtually guarantee that the HSE Inspector has attended a Christmas or leaving do in their office where alcohol has been available....