Clusters of other non-drinkers will also see in the year 2000 with a clear head and no hangover, while much of the rest of the country staggers around, looking for someone else to kiss. And Clapton - unlike a lot of people - will also remember what the evening was like.

Crooked memories all many will have

The guitar legend who has suffered a history of drink and drug abuse is inviting only friends who don't drink to his party. For him, he said, New Year's Eve had become the most depressing night of the year since he stopped drinking. He used to sit alone watching television while everyone else partied.

Now he and his friends can celebrate without anyone trying to press a drink into their hands, free from anything making their abstinence harder than it already will be.

Sticking with friends

Nick Tegerdine, director of the Alcohol Problems Advisory Service in Nottingham, says he knows other groups of people who were in a similar position as Clapton, who were trying to make sure they would be able to enjoy the evening in "a safe atmosphere".

Most of these were so-called "abstainers' circles" - groups of friends who were organising parties in their homes, or in hotels where the bar would be shut or only serving soft drinks.

Meanwhile, other things will be going on

One dry party he knew of was already planning to have 200 guests, most of whom would know each other.

The real problems, he says, were for people who did not want to drink but were going out where other people would be.

"It's a difficult time because so many people think it's a time just for excess, a time to get staggeringly offensively drunk," he says.

This puts the onus on people who are hosting parties and on pubs to be responsible. Some pubs were offering "Eat and drink all you can" tickets for New Year's Eve for £150 each. This was, Mr Tegerdine says, very bad practice as it puts even more pressure on people to drink.

Staying "on the wagon" is no easy business. Just a flick through an average day's tabloids reveals a bevy of sports stars, TV actors or models who are battling the booze, or back with the bottle.

Big event

Yet however hard someone has fought against drink, staying away from the most long-awaited party is a high price to pay. But it's a price some will be keen to pay.

One recovering alcoholic, who asked not to be named, said the big events of Christmas and New Year often acted as a catalyst for people who realised they had problems with their drinking.

Like Clapton, he said, many members of Alcoholics Anonymous would be spending the New Year together.

The Trafalgar Square fountains, traditional focal point

"As a recovering alcoholic, I can enjoy events. But I don't need to drink. It doesn't matter what the situation is, I choose not to drink.

"Whatever is going on in the world or the individual's life, it's down to that person to cope with."

He said: "If you had asked me 15 years ago what I would be doing at the end of this year, I would have said I'd be dancing in the fountain. Now I don't really think I'll be doing that. I'll be seeing it in with some friends, and God willing, I'll be sober."

It is not just recovering alcoholics who may be concerned, though, said Mark Bennett, of Alcohol Concern.

"It can be very difficult, especially on celebratory occasions. New Year's is traditionally a wet event, and I suspect the Millennium will be wetter than most.

One way many will choose to spend the night...

"People don't want to drink for whatever reason, perhaps they are a recovering problem drinker, they might have to go to work the next morning, perhaps they just don't fancy it. So much of British culture and socialising revolves around getting drunk, it can be hard to resist the peer pressure to join in."

For those unwilling or unable to take Clapton's lead, there are a number of practical steps they can take.

Mr Bennett says: "If you are going out, make sure the people you go with know you are not going to drink. That way they don't spend all evening trying to persuade you to have one, and you don't have to spend all evening refusing.

"Also try not to get involved in buying rounds - people tend to feel they ought to buy you an alcoholic drink rather than what you want," he said.

Mr Tegerdine says a tip which worked for many people was practising saying no to a drink in front of a mirror.

...a way others will choose

"If you're going out, and you don't want to drink, be clear in your mind what you're not going to do. And practice ways of saying it, with feeling but with a smile. If people don't practice they are setting themselves up for a slip."

Stock responses to offers of drinks also worked, he said. Things like "Ayatollah's orders", or blaming medicine, helped to get people off your back.

Your name's not on the list?

And if none of this works, and an invitation to chez Clapton's is not forthcoming, then perhaps anyone wanting to avoid the bash should take a flight to Boston, US, and spend the night in the Waterbar.

Although its international selection of drinks have come from as far as Italy and Fiji, they have one thing in common.

They are all water.