I noticed the same thing when I was that age (I'm 34 now). There were a couple of pubs in Brighton and Burgess Hill we knew we could go to on a Friday night and have no issues with being underage. We never caused any problems and it's just what we did to socialise outside of college. Within a year of me turning 18, one of the pubs put a bouncer on the door and the other one closed down. There was also an off licence in Hassocks we could always buy booze from, and that closed down just before I turned 18.
I think the reasons for drinking have changed over the last few years. It used to just be a case of going out and having a skinful of cheap lager, where as now people are a lot more fussy about what beers they drink. There's more emphasis on enjoying what you're drinking and trying new things, rather than just getting drunk.
