From Pub Ban to Purpose: A 30-Year Sobriety Journey That Transformed a Life
"I'm sorry, I can't serve you." Those words in 1992 marked a turning point for Anita Bhattacharjee, who found herself banned from every licensed premises in the town of Ambleside. What began as a desperate search for alcohol evolved into a three-decade journey of recovery, self-discovery, and service.
The Wake-Up Call That Changed Everything
After being released without charge by local police following an incident where she fell asleep in a public space, Bhattacharjee attempted to purchase alcohol at an off-license. The woman behind the counter delivered the shocking news: police had instructed her not to serve Bhattacharjee. "This is ridiculous," she shouted before leaving, convinced she could find alcohol elsewhere.
Her next attempt at a family-friendly pub brought even worse news. The barman informed her she was banned from all licensed premises in Ambleside. "You'll remember me," the custody sergeant's words from earlier that morning came rushing back. As panic flooded her system, she realized she had no way to obtain alcohol.
A Childhood That Set the Stage
Bhattacharjee was born into a caring family that ran a successful electric retail and repair business. Despite this supportive environment, she struggled with social interactions from an early age. "I felt like I didn't know how to speak to people the way others did," she recalls. "I was shy and awkward – I didn't know how to play or have fun. I felt different."
That changed at age 10 when she had her first drink of cider at a party. "I thought it was the best thing I'd ever had," she remembers. "Suddenly, I belonged. I felt confident, happy, free." That single experience sparked an obsession with drinking that would dominate her teenage years.
The Downward Spiral
By her mid-teens, Bhattacharjee drank whenever possible – at parties, gatherings, anywhere she could find alcohol. The normally shy teenager transformed under alcohol's influence, engaging in dangerous behaviors including hitchhiking at 15 and climbing into cars with strangers.
While support from school helped her complete her GCSEs, her A-level studies were marked by drunkenness in class, absences, suspensions, addiction-center visits, and finally expulsion after just four months. "I felt scared and confused," she admits. "Even then I could see that alcohol was causing issues in my life, but I treated the downsides like side-effects of a good medicine."
Despite efforts from friends, family, and health professionals to help, Bhattacharjee felt a profound loneliness they couldn't reach. Her first mental hospital detox came at 19, just months after the pub ban. She completed five weeks in detox but lasted only six days in the rehab section before leaving, determined to handle things herself.
Two Years of Desperation
What followed were two years of rough sleeping, psychiatric wards, various institutions, and a growing sense of hopelessness. Her parents tried everything – doctors, counseling, paying off debts, rehab clinics – but felt essentially powerless to help their daughter.
In March 1995, aged 22 and having not drunk since November, Bhattacharjee decided to travel to India on what she considered her last month on Earth before drinking herself to death. There, something extraordinary happened during a trip to a library in Puducherry with her uncle.
The Turning Point
"I heard a voice shout 'I want to live' back at me," she describes. "I looked around to find the source, but realized it was a small voice in me that had become loud." From that moment, she knew she would return home, attend recovery meetings, find a sponsor, and change her life.
But sobriety alone wasn't enough. She needed purpose, structure, and a way to reconnect with society after years living on its edges. She walked into her local Royal Voluntary Service and asked about meaningful but manageable opportunities.
Finding Purpose Through Volunteering
Bhattacharjee began with Meals on Wheels, feeling awkward and self-conscious at first. "I was unsure how to explain to others I worked with why my life looked so different from others my age," she says. Gradually, the work became about the people she served, and she discovered she loved it.
Other RVS roles followed – hospital trolley rounds, working in the magistrates' courts café – each one slowly stitching her back into everyday life. Supported by the players of People's Postcode Lottery, Royal Voluntary Service has launched GoVo.org, a new digital volunteering platform for those seeking opportunities in their area.
Rebuilding an Education and Career
The confidence gained through volunteering enabled Bhattacharjee to return to college in 1997 to complete her A levels. "I felt worlds apart from my 16-year-old classmates," she admits, often eating lunch alone in a park where she had once lived. But she persevered, making friends and passing with an A and two Cs.
In 2001, she graduated with a first-class degree in sociology and social anthropology, winning the department award. "I'll never forget the tears of joy in my eyes," she recalls, "then hearing my family on the phone, knowing tears were falling from theirs too."
A Life of Service
Over the years, Bhattacharjee's working life has grown to include student coaching, pastoral roles, mindfulness teaching, adult education, and library work. She spent ten years supporting refugees, asylum seekers, and others as an ESOL learning mentor.
For the past twenty years, she has supported addicts in recovery, and since 2018, has taught mindfulness in adult education. "It feels like everything has come full circle in the most wonderful way," she reflects.
Thirty Years of Sobriety
On November 18, 2025, Bhattacharjee celebrated thirty years of sobriety, taking it one day at a time. "Recovery isn't always easy but it is possible," she emphasizes.
To anyone struggling with addiction, she offers this advice: "Find your local 12-step recovery group. The future you cannot imagine may be waiting for you." From being banned from every pub in town to finding purpose through service, Bhattacharjee's journey demonstrates that transformation is possible even from the darkest places.
