Trade reaps benefits of'double Christmas Eve'

New data supports the view that the two days before Christmas Day provided pubs with an exceptional takings boost.

By contrast, New Year's Eve was sluggish, with trade down by around 5% on the year before.

A survey of 1,000 pubs by beer-flow monitoring firm Nucleus Data shows the "double Christmas Eve effect" meant punters celebrated twice, after work on Friday and then on Christmas Eve itself on Saturday.

The data showed that trade on Friday 23 December was up by almost one-third on the previous year.

Trade was also up by around 20% on the evening before New Year's Eve - also a Friday. Overall, trade during the period was almost unchanged - up just 0.2% on 2004.

Stella Artois brewer InBev UK has pointed to disappointing trade in the weeks leading up to Christmas - or at least a trend towards parties happening later in December. But InBev said on-trade drink sales were on a par with the previous year.

Steve Kitching, InBev UK's managing director of on-trade sales, said: "The period leading up to Christmas was quieter than usual with a lot of parties and get-togethers being held back until the final week, as for many people it was a full working week. This undoubtedly had an impact on the level of footfall in on-trade outlets in the first few weeks of December."

Julian Sargeson, chief executive of Laurel, reported a 5%-plus like-for-like sales increase in the week before Christmas. "The three weeks leading up to Christmas week were average at best, but we had a very, very strong week leading up to Christmas."