France alcohol age etc

If i go over to France and buy alcohol aged 17 can i bring it back legally to the UK?

Age limit is 16 over there to buy it.

Reply 1

Magnum Opus

Yes because you haven't bought it in the UK.

Reply 2

nobbler

Some places in France the drinking age is 18. Depends where you go. Holiday places (well for me), won't sell you alcohol at 17

Reply 3

DeadPixel

Wrong. You must be 18 to buy alcohol in France.

The only thing you can buy at 16 is beer or cider, something under 5 degrees. But this may change in the upcoming years, the government wanted to change that.

But then, it depends on the store and how old you look, they may not ask for ID — I could buy a rum bottle at 15, beer at 13-14, but some shops still ask me for ID.

And don't take too much alcohol, depending on how you come (customs may check). I don't know about the age though.

Reply 4

JW92

The age limit changed to 18 this year.
But, in reality French sellers tend to be very lax.
So, yes, you can.

Reply 5

Lizia

How are you travelling? I'm pretty sure on airlines if you bring it in hand luggage they'll confiscate it from you. They've done it to people I know.

And yeah, like mentioned above, you won't be able to buy any hard spirits or even most bottles of wine. From experience, alcohol really isn't that much cheaper in France than England. Wine obviously is, but from what my friends told me, beer was about the same in most places outside Calais. Heck, the people where I lived hop across the border to Spain for their cheap beer.

I found shops where I lived to be pretty strict if the person did look underage. Less so than in England, since they don't really have a concept of Think 25, but if they think you don't even look 18, they might ID you. None of my friends or I were IDed, but my friend who looked about 16 was IDed more than once.

Reply 6

DeadPixel

JW92

The age limit changed to 18 this year.

It hasn't changed this year, it has always been like that.
As I said, it's just going to change (and have already changed in some shops) for beer ; but wine, spirits or anything more than 5° have always required you to be over 18.

In Denmark though (if I remember correctly), it's 16 for anything :wink: