Great weather and Rugby World Cup drive sales and dwell time

12-Sep-2023 - Last updated on 12-Sep-2023 at 08:51 GMT

Last of the summer time: pubs enjoyed a sporting weekend with good weather (credit: Getty/itsskin)

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A combination of great weather and the start of the Rugby World Cup at the weekend led to strong sales in the on-trade.

The sporting spectacle at the pub was also added to as England’s football team faced Ukraine in a Euro 2024 qualifying match on Saturday.

Sales at pubs and bars grew by 6.1% on Friday and Saturday (9-10 September) versus the previous week with a breakdown showing sales on Friday rose by 5.7% and were up by 6.5% on Saturday with an impressive 33.5m pints sold, according to data insights business Oxford Partnership.

The average pub served 934 pints of draught beer and cider, which equates to a strong £4,278 income generator.

Strong start to weekend

By far the biggest day was Saturday, which saw an additional 24 pints sold to consumers. Compared to an average weekend, a not unimpressive extra 13 pints were sold in every pub, which meant a strong start to the weekend.

Lager was the big winner driven by world and premium brands. Stout fell back for the first time as sales dropped by 8.6%.

Footfall and dwell time were highest in outlets with outdoor areas showing sport as consumers looked to enjoy the last of the warm weather without missing out on a Saturday packed with sport.

Sport drove impressive footfall increases, with Saturday up 11.6% and dwell time increased by 11 minutes to 128 minutes in total.

Outdoor areas

On-trade sites with outdoor areas saw impressive footfall gains, up by 10.6% on Friday with dwell time up six minutes to 123. Outlets with both outdoor areas and sport saw a whopping 17.4% rise on Saturday with dwell time increased by 12 minutes to 129 minutes in total.

Sadly, the rain and stormy weather came back with a vengeance on Sunday, which drove scores of customers back home and out of the pub which led to a downturn of 11.2%.

Oxford Partnership CEO Alison Jordan said: “The weather always makes a huge difference to on-trade sales and this year is no exception. Sports usually provides a trigger for sales hikes and this weekend’s Euros qualifier plus the start of the Rugby World Cup 2023 has not failed to deliver so far – as the group stages hot up, no doubt we will continue to see more sales growth.”