Strong summer performance for managed pubs

Collective like-for-like sales at pub and restaurant groups rose by 0.6% over August, up from 0.3% in July, according to the latest Coffer Peach Business Tracker.

Pubs – especially wet-led pubs – performed particularly well, with like-for-like sales rising 1.2% compared to a 0.4% drop experienced by casual-dining chains.

Confidence fears

Peter Martin, vice president of business insight consultancy CGA Peach, said: “The reassuring thing is that overall business was marginally up on last year at a time when consumer confidence was expected to be fragile in the wake of the referendum.

“However, performance was not uniform across the country, with London operators seeing a healthy 2.9% like-for-like sales uplift against August 2015, continuing a trend seen in July.”

But businesses outside the M25 saw a minor 0.1% drop in like-for-like sales against the same period last year.

Martin said: “Tourism will have helped the capital and the market will remain cautious as we move into the pre-Christmas period.”

Modest growth

Overall, restaurant sector growth had slowed to the point where it was broadly growing at the same pace as pubs.

Trevor Watson, executive director for valuations at Davis Coffer Lyons, said: “This is further evidence of the slowdown in growth in the restaurant sector as the number of new openings reduces and the sector moves into a period of more modest growth.”

With London benefiting from staycations and weaker sterling, results were “considerably more positive” than some expected, he said.

“Business and consumer confidence in the autumn season for the time being looks as though it is likely to remain positive in the run up to the key Christmas period.”