Pub food market to polarise

The UK's food market will polarise over the next four years into premium or value offerings.

According to CGA chief executive Jon Collins, the sector will see an erosion of the middle ground in food, with 523 new value food pubs expected to enter the market by 2015.

CGA expects on-trade supply to fall by 5% (6,473 outlets) to 127,625 over the same period. It expects there will be 42,387 food-led pubs by 2015, a rise of 1.7% on this year.

CGA said that this growth will be driven by premium food pubs, which will account for

more than 10% of the food for all segments. Premium food pubs will increase by 17.4% to 4,323, while value food pubs will grow by 5.8% to 10,258.

Discussing political issues, Collins said the industry might need to become more confrontational with the Government over its approach to the trade.

And he questioned whether the industry spends enough money on lobbyists to help defend its case. He said: "There is more that could be done. People need to put their hands in their pockets."

He also issued a note of caution on local authorities being given the right to set their own licence fees and predicted that many pubs and late-night venues would be paying significantly more for licences.

He added: "We know how strapped local authorities are and this could be a lifeboat for them."

Collins claimed legislation, which includes the late-night levy and early-morning restriction orders is badly drafted.

"The good news is that it is drafted so badly that local authorities won't want to touch it," he added.