The latest Daily Drinks Tracker from CGA by NIQ showed average drinks sales by value in managed venues were for the two weeks to Saturday 19 April were ahead of the same period in 2024.
After a challenging start to 2025, this means drinks sales have been in year-on-year growth for eight of the last nine weeks.
Widespread sunshine in the first full week of April brought consumers out to pub and bar gardens and terraces.
Daily sales were in double-digit growth on most days of the week, soaring by 50% on Tuesday 8 April, when temperatures nudged into the 20s.
Burst of growth
The warm weather gave a particularly big boost to the Long Alcoholic Drinks (LAD) categories, with beer sales up by 11% and cider soaring 32%.
However, the tracker showed more muted sales towards the end of the week, attributed to wetter weather, but more sunshine in the run-up to the long Easter holiday weekend unlocked another burst of growth.
Daily sales were ahead by 51% on Thursday 17 April, and by 11% and 14% on Good Friday and Easter Saturday respectively—though these figures are inflated by comparisons to a non-Easter week in 2024.
The week was another strong one for beer (up 6%) and cider (up 11%), while the school holidays made it a standout seven days for soft drinks (up 21%).
Encouraging signs
There was a rare two successive weeks of growth for spirits. Wine (up 2% and down 0.3%) had a flatter fortnight.
The previous tracker showed average sales were up 5% at the start of last month, also driven by warmer weather.
CGA by NIQ commercial lead UK & Ireland Rachel Weller said: “With the important caveat that Easter skews year-on-year comparisons, these numbers are further encouraging signs of drinks sales momentum in the on premise.
“Pubs, bars and suppliers will be particularly encouraged by trends in the spirits category after a long run of negative numbers. Inflation and increased labour costs will have taken slices out of these incremental sales, and real-terms growth is still far from easy.
“Even so, it’s apparent that some consumers are now feeling more confident about their spending, and we can be optimistic about further growth over the rest of the spring and summer.”
