The latest Drinks Recovery Tracker from CGA by NIQ, which measures average drinks sales by value in managed venues, revealed the late Christmas surge in trade was followed by a 9% slump in the first full week of January.
Though footfall and spend recovered in the subsequent seven days to Saturday 18 January, with sales finishing 2% ahead of the equivalent week in 2024, attributed to decent weather and high-profile football fixtures.
It made for a particularly good week for the Long Alcoholic Drinks (LAD) category, with beer and cider sales both rising above inflation at 4%.
Blown away
The soft drinks category also saw growth of 4%, as some consumers switched away from alcoholic options for dry January.
However, trade was then blown away by Storm Éowyn, which brought drinks sales down with a bump the following week.
It meant sales saw a year-on-year drop of 5% in the seven days to Saturday 25 January, with the storm hitting trade hardest on Friday 24 January with Daily a 14% slump.
While the next day (Saturday 25 January) was less impacted by the windy weather, sales were still down by 6% year-on-year.
Slow start
Most major drinks categories were equally affected by the storm, with sales of beer, cider, soft drinks and wine all down by between 2% and 4% across the week.
The spirits saw sales dip by 11% and 19% in the weeks to 18 and 25 January respectively, extending a long-run of negative numbers for the segment as moderation trends and cost pressures continued to bite.
CGA by NIQ commercial lead UK & Ireland Rachel Weller said: “After a slow start to the year, on-premise drinks sales were starting to build some momentum before being blown away by Storm Éowyn.
“Better weather and the end of dry January will hopefully start to release some pent-up demand for drinking-out, but any real-terms growth will be hard-earned for the foreseeable future.”
