If after-work drinks tend to leave you clinging with embarrassment the next morning, help could be at hand.

The Monopoly Bureau regulated weights and measures and oversaw the production and marketing of salt, camphor, opium, matches, liquor, tobacco, and other products.

A study, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), found that pensioners who enjoyed a few drinks every week, had a 23 per cent lower risk of mortality than teetotallers.