There were challenges for pubs as last year the Easter weekend fell at the end of March 2024 - just in time for pay day and the beginning of the school holidays. This year the Easter weekend fell later between 18 to 21 April 2025
Oxford Partnership, the real-time intelligence firm, in its Market Watch, found volume sales were down over the Easter weekend.
It revealed to The Morning Advertiser that year-on-year volume sales for Thursday were up 4.8%, Friday was down 9.6%, Saturday down 8.8%, Sunday down 2.5% and Monday down 4.5% - so overall the long weekend was down 4.8%.
Dining data
Data from Zonal found nearly half (44%) of all Easter lunch bookings happened on Easter Sunday, with lunch making up 60% of that day's reservations.
It also found lunch was more popular than dinner on Sunday and Monday v Friday and Saturday (56% vs 28%), while dinner saw higher numbers on Friday and Saturday (44% v 34%). The most common booking size was for two people, making up 33% of all bookings across the four day
Zonal chief commercial officer Tim Chapman said: “This Easter weekend, lunch clearly led the way in dining preferences, particularly on Sunday and Monday, when it accounted for 56% of bookings compared to just 28% for dinner. Unlike other celebratory events that are often associated with evening socialising and late-night gatherings, Easter typically emphasises daytime activities, such as family lunches, egg hunts, and community events. As a result, many chose to eat out earlier in the day, reinforcing lunch as the most popular time to dine.”
However, operators reported some positive trading over the Easter break.
Cheshire Cat Pubs & Inns owner Tim Bird reported positive Easter trading and highlighted the challenges with Easter being very late this year versus last year. The operator, which has won a raft of Publican and Great British Pub Awards, reported improved like-for-like sales.
“We always look at the four days from Good Friday to the bank holiday Monday inclusive versus the same days last year irrespective of the time movement. We had a great weekend despite pretty shoddy weather other than the Sunday which was beautiful all day. On a like-for-like basis, we were 9% up year-on-year, Easter on Easter,” he said.
Great performance
Bird added: “The week in isolation was up 25% like-for-like because of the Easter movement. The month of April has been pretty amazing, up 22.5% like-for-like over the three weeks so far.
“Good weather has helped at the start of April but our March trading period without Easter and Mother’s Day this year was still 9.2% up so again, a great performance by the team.”
Brakspear, the Henley-based operator, said that pre-bookings helped to drive sales at its sites.
David Nathan, chief operating officer at Brakspear, which includes leased & tenanted pubs and the Honeycomb Houses managed division, said: “Many of our pubs promoted their Easter dining offers and events in advance and were fully booked at key times over the long weekend, which delivered significant revenue. Monday wasn’t as strong as we’d hoped due to the disappointing weather, but pubs with outdoor shelter and heating were able to satisfy customers’ desire to spend time in a pub garden.”
Pay day impact
Meanwhile, Great British Pub Awards winner Philip Cutter, licensee at The Murderers & The Gardeners Arms in Norwich said trading was steady over the Easter break.
He said: “We compare year-on-year and last Easter was absolutely fantastic for us. This was due in part to Norwich City FC doing well and also the timing of Easter which was just after pay day. This year, pay day is just after the Easter Weekend.”
He said while people were coming in to the venue to watch the sport, customers were still being frugal with their spending and “holding onto the pennies.”
Despite these challenges, he is expecting trading over the week to be on a par with last year as pay day is set to hit this weekend (28 April 2025).
“We are the only independent pub in Norwich City Centre and people do look out for independent pubs,” he added.
The news comes as Hollywood Bowl Group, the ten pin bowling operator, released a trading update drawing attention to the timing of Easter as having an impact on its sales.
It said group like-for-likes were negatively impacted by 0.9% due to the timing of Easter compared to H1 FY2024.
