Drinks sales up 3% amid 'economic turmoil'
The tracker also showed sales were 2% ahead of pre-covid levels, though with rising inflation and costs across the board, trading has remained short of previous years in real terms.
For the second week in a row, the on premise has seen an increase in sales, despite further nationwide rail strikes the week to 1 October on top of rising costs, with last week’s tracker having revealed in the seven days to Saturday 24 September sales were 1% ahead compared with the same week in 2021.
Encouraging growth
CGA managing director UK and Ireland Johnathan Jones said: “Amid all the economic turmoil, it’s encouraging to see two successive weeks of growth in on premise drinks sales.”
While year-on-year sales dipped on Sunday and Friday (25 and 30 September) they were ahead by between 3% and 10% on all five other days of the week.
Though the most impressive performance came on Saturday (1 October), when drinks sales ran 9% ahead of 2021 despite the rail strikes restricting consumers’ travel to city and town centres.
As has been the case for several weeks now, beer and cider were the strongest categories for the on trade, with year-on-year growth of 11% and 12% respectively.
Growing pressure
Soft drinks (up 7%) and wine (up 5%) also did well, though spirits sales were down by 12%, showing how consumers’ drinking habits have shifted from last autumn, when spirits sales flourished, partly at the expense of the LAD and wine categories, according to CGA.
Jones added: “Despite growing pressure on their disposable incomes, consumers remain very keen to drink out in pubs and bars, and it hopefully bodes well for the run-up to the crucial Christmas trading period.
“However, with energy, food and property bills continuing to rise and inflation-adjusted growth so difficult to achieve, it will be a tough fourth-quarter for some businesses.”
