Decades of hooliganism (mostly a thing of the past thankfully) has meant that you can't be in possession of alcohol within view of the pitch in the top 5 tiers in the UK. (And by the 5th tier you're looking at matches that have attendances anywhere down to 400 or so, although some clubs in the 5th tier still manage to attract 10000 fans to home games).
This spills out into the local community around stadiums too. Many pubs really close to the ground will have extra restrictions on matchdays, that's probably what you've experienced. But that's not just the UK, I remember going to a River Plate game in Buenos Aires 20 years ago and being amazed that on match days there was no alcohol served within a mile of the stadium or some such rule.
I've been to Champions League games in the UK sponsored by a variety of alcoholic drink companies and they weren't serving alcohol anywhere in the stadium (well, I guess they still do in the hospitality sections).
Even when the stadiums do serve alcohol they do strange things like stopping serving as the second half kicks off. As someone who wants to watch all of the football I've paid to go see it's a very odd thing getting a pint at half time and drinking it in under 10 minutes in order to be back to the stands in time for the second half to kick off. Us Brits just accept it and deal with it.
Compare that to watching rugby or cricket in the UK where you have no fan segregation and alcohol allowed at the seats.
It's also much more relaxed at the lower tiers of UK football. I've watched a few Dulwich Hamlet games with a friend and they allow to bring your own beers in (may have changed, haven't been for a few years), and sometimes have a "pay what you want" admission price.
Wherever I go in the UK I try and keep a look out for a local game, even if the football is terrible the people watching is often amazing and worth the admission price alone.
There will always be idiots, regardless of whether alcohol is involved or not, but I'm talking about the levels of hooliganism that were rife in the 80s and 90s, the things that got alcohol banned (when in view of the pitch) at football matches.
That level of hooliganism at games and around the stadiums is a mostly a thing of the past.
The days of open brawls in the stands that you saw in the 80s/90s are gone, you just get the occasional bit of jostling nowadays if that. (I used to do stewarding back in the late 90s and saw a lot of the bad side of things.)
The various "firms" that would meet up for their arranged pre-match fight have dwindled to almost nothing and now there is little fear for away fans walking to/from games. It used to be quite a scary prospect depending on the ground visited.
However, successive UK Governments have repeatedly kicked the can down the road when considering reversing the 1985 ban that stopped people having a drink in view of the pitch.
I don't think any UK political party has the bottle (pun intended) to reintroduce it, it would be a pretty divisive proposal and most political parties try to steer well clear of such things in today's politics.
Things are starting to change though. At some grounds you do have home and away fans mixing in the concourses (the Putney End of Fulham's ground for example) but most grounds in the top tiers are designed to keep home and away fans apart as much as possible.
Decades of hooliganism (mostly a thing of the past thankfully) has meant that you can't be in possession of alcohol within view of the pitch in the top 5 tiers in the UK. (And by the 5th tier you're looking at matches that have attendances anywhere down to 400 or so, although some clubs in the 5th tier still manage to attract 10000 fans to home games).
This spills out into the local community around stadiums too. Many pubs really close to the ground will have extra restrictions on matchdays, that's probably what you've experienced. But that's not just the UK, I remember going to a River Plate game in Buenos Aires 20 years ago and being amazed that on match days there was no alcohol served within a mile of the stadium or some such rule.
I've been to Champions League games in the UK sponsored by a variety of alcoholic drink companies and they weren't serving alcohol anywhere in the stadium (well, I guess they still do in the hospitality sections).
Even when the stadiums do serve alcohol they do strange things like stopping serving as the second half kicks off. As someone who wants to watch all of the football I've paid to go see it's a very odd thing getting a pint at half time and drinking it in under 10 minutes in order to be back to the stands in time for the second half to kick off. Us Brits just accept it and deal with it.
Compare that to watching rugby or cricket in the UK where you have no fan segregation and alcohol allowed at the seats.
It's also much more relaxed at the lower tiers of UK football. I've watched a few Dulwich Hamlet games with a friend and they allow to bring your own beers in (may have changed, haven't been for a few years), and sometimes have a "pay what you want" admission price.
Wherever I go in the UK I try and keep a look out for a local game, even if the football is terrible the people watching is often amazing and worth the admission price alone.