An extra bank holiday and more strong beer and cider sales helped to pull on-trade drinks sales just ahead of 2021 levels last week.
CGA by NielsenIQ’s latest Drinks Recovery Tracker shows average sales in managed venues in the seven days to Saturday, 24th September, were 1% ahead of the same week last year. They were up by the same margin on the pre-Covid level of September 2019. But high inflation means sales are well down in real terms.
Trading was lifted by the addition of a public holiday for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. While some venues closed for the occasion, drinks sales were 34% and 21% up on Sunday and Monday (18th and 19th September), compared to the same days in 2019.
However, there was something of a hangover for the rest of the week, with sales down by between 2% and 13% from Tuesday to Saturday. A shift in visits to the previous few days, cooler weather ,and consumers’ growing concerns about costs all contributed to the dip.
It was another good week for the LAD (long alcoholic drinks) category. Beer and cider sales were up by 8% and 7% respectively year on year. Wine (up 6%) and soft drinks (up 1%) were also in growth, but spirits were down by 12% from tough comparatives.
“These figures show many consumers chose to spend parts of the weekend of the Queen’s funeral in the communal environments of pubs and bars,” said Jonathan Jones, CGA’s managing director, UK and Ireland.
“While it’s pleasing to see year-on-year growth, high inflation and mounting concerns about energy and mortgage bills means more government support is clearly going to be needed to mitigate businesses’ costs and stimulate consumers’ spending.”
