Drinks sales in growth for fourth week in a row
Likely thanks to warmer weather, this is the fourth week in a row sales have been in growth, with the previous tracker having showed drinks sales were up 3% in the seven days to Saturday 7 May when compared with 2019.
However, high inflation and rising costs meant sales were still well below three years ago in real terms.
CGA managing director UK and Ireland Johnathan Jones said: “These figures are a reminder of the huge difference sunny weather makes to drinks sales.
Inflationary pressures
“However, there is no escaping the impact of inflationary pressures on both consumers’ spending confidence and real-terms sales.”
The start of the week saw cooler weather with drinks sales down by between 8% and 15% from Sunday to Wednesday.
However, both the temperature and drinks sales began to rise in the second half of the week, peaking with 19% growth on Saturday.
As well as the sunny weather, pubs and bars were boosted by screenings of football’s FA Cup Final, which delivered a lift to beer sales and saw the end of the week virtually level with 2019.
Growth is positive
Both the soft drinks and cider category saw declines, with the latter down 6%, and wine saw its worst week since February with sales down 14%.
Spirits were one again the strongest of the categories, with sales across the week up by 15%.
This comes as managed pub, bar and restaurant groups recorded like-for-like sales growth of 2% in April 2022 when compared with 2019, according to the latest Coffer CGA Business Tracker.
Jones added: “Four successive weeks of growth is positive, and operators and suppliers must now keep everything crossed for sunshine over the Bank Holiday and Queen’s Jubilee weekends.”
