Londoners turn to cigarettes and alcohol in the recession

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Cigarette, alcohol and junk food sales have soared while spending on fruit and vegetables has fallen, bucking the healthier living trend of the boom years, according to a survey published today.

At the same time more than a third of people are cutting back on expensive gym membership. The survey says we are going out less and paints a picture of anxious Londoners bingeing on alcohol, cigarettes and comfort food at home to forget their worries.

Since the start of the credit crunch two years ago, supermarket sales of tobacco and junk foods such as crisps and chocolate have soared by 26 per cent, beer by 28 per cent and ready meals by 37 per cent,

Meanwhile spending on fruit and vegetables is down three per cent, according to price comparison website mySupermarket.com.

A postcode map of London shows the situation is worst in Croydon where spending on alcohol and cigarettes has doubled, while consumption of fruit and vegetables is down by almost a fifth. East London has also seen a big increase in spending on "vices" with a 79 per cent rise in tobacco sales and 115 per cent more going on ready meals.

David Soskin, spokesman for mySupermarket.com said: "It is a worrying trend. London is making increasingly unhealthy choices, perhaps because there appears to be a misconception that healthy foods are more expensive than convenience snack foods."

The findings mirror trends in spending on organic food, which fell by 20per cent last year.

A separate survey by market researchers TNS shows three quarters of Londoners have cut spending on going out. Almost as many are making savings on clothes followed by 66 per cent cutting back on "premium" food and 65 per cent on holidays. The 69per cent of Londoners who said they had made savings in the past 12 months, was the lowest proportion of any region in Britain.

However, Londoners are the most fearful with 37 per cent saying they were worried about redundancy.