Problem Drinking - Delivered to Your Door - with Hattie UnderwoodProblem Drinking - Delivered to Your Door - with Hattie Underwood
Sober Awkward
How alcohol delivery apps are quietly fuelling addiction behind closed doors.
43:19•24 May 2026
Problem Drinking on Your Doorstep: Hattie Underwood on Alcohol Delivery and Sobriety
Episode Overview
- Rapid alcohol delivery apps can remove natural barriers like embarrassment and effort, making it easier for secret drinking and dependence to escalate.
- Staying at home to drink may feel safer, but it often pushes problem drinking further underground and delays moments of honest self-reflection.
- Short alcohol-free periods, such as dry January or 100 days off, can offer a glimpse of life without booze and help build belief that change is possible.
- Recovery groups and community support provide structure, connection and ongoing tools, making long-term sobriety feel more manageable.
- Taking sobriety one day at a time, rather than vowing to "never drink again", can make starting and maintaining change feel less overwhelming.
“The thing that's hurting you feels like the thing that's saving you.”
How do people cope with the challenges of staying sober when booze can land on the doorstep faster than a takeaway? This chat between Vic and guest Hattie Underwood looks straight at that question, with zero fluff and plenty of dark humour.
Hattie, a London-based mum of two and five years alcohol-free, talks about how rapid delivery apps turned her home into what she calls an "airport system" for drinking – no closing time, no awkward shop staff, just a few taps on her phone and gin on the sofa by 9am.
She explains how the anonymity of helmeted drivers and saved card details pushed her drinking further underground: "The thing that's hurting you feels like the thing that's saving you." Vic links Hattie’s story to her own boozy past, pointing out how shame once acted as a natural speed bump – the clinking bags, the judging cashier, the early-morning off-licence run.
Delivery apps, they argue, strip all that away and make secret, stay-at-home drinking feel normal, even ‘luxurious’, while quietly ramping up dependence. The conversation isn’t just a rant about tech, though. Hattie talks through her path to sobriety: dry January turning into 100 days, a failed attempt at “just one drink”, a rock-bottom phone call to a sober friend, and finally finding ongoing support in recovery groups.
She stresses the power of "one day at a time" thinking and reminds anyone struggling that "anyone can be addicted, and anyone can be sober". You’ll come away with a clearer sense of how alcohol delivery services can intensify problem drinking, why regulation matters, and how small breaks from booze can act like a trial run for a different life.
If alcohol is creeping further into your daily routine, what would one alcohol-free day – just today – look like for you?
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