When I went to Northern Ireland last year I found it's generally harder to buy alcohol from shops or supermarkets over there. I think they tend to have actual off licenses rather than every shop having an alcohol aisle.
I only realised how odd it is that we can buy alcohol from petrol stations...
This reminds me of that bit in Yes Prime Minister
"It's been shown that if those extra 100,000 people had lived to a ripe old age, they'd have cost us even more in pensions and social security than they did in medical treatment".