Drinks sales 0.5% ahead of a year ago
However, trading was down by 13% on the same week in 2019, though this figure was skewed by the August bank holiday weekend falling in the same period.
CGA managing director UK and Ireland Johnathan Jones said: “The bank holiday weekend makes comparisons tricky, but it’s clear drinks sales are well short of hoped-for levels, especially when we take into account the effects of inflation.
Fluctuating sales
“With weekend sales particularly slow, we may well be seeing the effects of consumers becoming more cautious with their discretionary spending.”
According to the CGA data, drinks sales fluctuated over the course of last week, running ahead of 2019 by double digits on Tuesday and Wednesday (23 and 24 August), but falling behind on Friday and Saturday (26 and 27 August).
Furthermore, all five key drinks categories were below the levels of three years ago, though soft drinks (down 9%) and beer (down 10%) fared better than wine (down 16%), cider (down 19%) and spirits (down 26%).
Tough times
This comes as last week’s tracker showed in the seven days to Saturday 20 August drinks sales in managed venues were 1% down vs the same week in 2019.
Additionally, earlier this month saw inflation exceed 10%, with food prices having made the largest upward contribution to inflation rates between June and July 2022.
Jones added: “On premise businesses will need to be at the top of their game to generate growth in the final four months of the year, and the sector needs and deserves proper government support on soaring costs to sustain it through these tough times.”
