Drinks sales in growth for tenth successive week

The latest Drinks Recovery Tracker from CGA​ by NIQ’s revealed average drinks sales in managed venues during the seven days to Saturday 1 July finished 6% ahead compared with 2022.

Attributed in part to “widespread sunny weather” bringing people out to drink in pub gardens and terraces, the data showed sales were in year-on-year growth for six out of the seven days, peaking at 9% and 10% on Monday (26 June) and Tuesday (27 June).

Challenging conditions

This comes as preceding trackers​ estimated drinks sales had hit 7% growth the previous two weeks.

However, it is important to note the upswing comes as operators face “challenging conditions” and rising inflation, according to CGA managing director UK and Ireland Jonathan Jones.

The latest headline rate of inflation​ was recently estimated by the Office for National Statistics to be at 8.7%.

Jones said: “Last week’s sales wrapped up a very solid second quarter of 2023 for drinks sales.

Notable improvement

“Against a backdrop of high inflation and challenging conditions for businesses and consumers alike, operators and suppliers continue to provide compelling reasons for British consumers to drink out.”

Category wise, Long Alcoholic Drinks (LAD) categories performed best, with cider sales up 19% and beer up 9%.

Soft drinks (5%) and wine (4%) achieved smaller growth, while the spirits category was down 2%, though this marked a notable improvement from recent trends, and there was modest but encouraging growth over the weekend.  

Jones added: “It’s particularly encouraging to see that growth held up despite the cooling of the weather, which bodes well for the rest of the summer period.”