Easter sales boost predicted despite damp weather forecast

27-Mar-2024 - Last updated on 28-Mar-2024 at 18:08 GMT

Sales prediction: Friday and Saturday this Easter weekend are expected to be the biggest days across the bank holiday period (image: Getty/Liliboas)

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Pub operators should expect this Easter weekend to provide a much-needed sales boost in spite of Met Office warnings of unsettled weather.

When looking at last year, Saturday was the biggest day for the weekend, overtaking 2022’s sales and surpassing 2019’s, despite the overall weekend being behind pre-pandemic levels by 5.8%, which was largely driven by Sunday’s and Monday’s sales, according to insights firm Oxford Partnership.

The Easter period from Thursday to Monday in 2023 saw drinkers quaff 64.2m pints across the UK – a rise of 5.4% compared to 2022.

In individual pub terms, it equated to an additional 86 pints sold per pub against 2022, meaning an extra £349 in the till.

Previous data

Total beer sales were up 5.7% against 2022 with the key growth driven by stout, world lager, ale and apple cider.

Stout was the stand-out winning category with a 36.2% increase against 2022 figures, followed by world lager, with its performance up 16.1% compared to the previous year.

Looking to the 2024 bank holiday weekend, Oxford Partnership CEO Alison Jordan said: “Easter might be earlier this year and mixed weather predicted but we have already seen St Patrick’s weekend overtake the equivalent weekend in 2023 (up 3.3%) and we predict pubs will see similar uplifts this weekend with Saturday once again, seeing peak sales.”

Oxford Partnership’s data from St Patrick’s Day weekend showed 27m pints were poured from Friday 15 to Sunday 17 March.

Reasons to be optimistic

Furthermore, the research showed the period was up 11% against every other weekend this year, due to St Patrick’s Day celebrations and ‘super Saturday’, which saw the finals of the Six Nations rugby tournament.

The figures revealed there was 1,077 pints of beer and cider sold in the average venue, generated £3,301.

The Murgatroyd Arms in Halifax, West Yorkshire manager Matt Green echoed Jordan’s optimism about the coming long weekend.

He added: “I’m delighted to report the Murg is already fully booked for the Easter weekend as families look to get together and celebrate the first extended break since Christmas.

“With the Premier League returning, including Manchester City’s clash with Arsenal on Sunday, there’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic for a weekend of strong sales.”