The overall eating and drinking category decreased year-on-year by 0.5%, according to the latest Barclays Consumer Spend report, which combines millions of customer transactions with consumer research.
Overall hospitality and leisure sector grew 2.1% year on year, which the report put down to being driven by the strong performance of entertainment (up 8%) with live shows and concerts up 2.5%.
Economic uncertainty
However, spend growth in pubs, bars and clubs was down 1% and transaction growth fell by 2.8%
Barclays head of retail Karen Johnson said: “Despite the warm weather, which usually boosts non-essential sectors such as retail and hospitality, consumers spent cautiously in June, prioritising value as they navigate economic uncertainty.
“Encouragingly, entertainment beauty and furniture stores bucked the trend while confidence in household finances improved, showing consumers’ willingness to spend on the thing that matter most to them.”
Future growth
Barclays chief UK economist Jack Meaning predicted cautious consumer spending was set to continue.
He said: “The economy has cooled through Q2 but our data does show pockets of strength.
“However, with both global and domestic uncertainty and temporarily heightened inflation likely to continue, consumers are remaining cautious and maintaining savings buffers.
“We expect this to lead to limited GDP growth for the remainder of this year before falling interest rates and a stronger sense of uncertainty drives a return to growth next year.”
Earlier this year, Barclays data showed the April sunshine and long Easter weekend saw consumer spending growth in pubs, bars and clubs reach a 16-month high. Additionally, the number of transactions rose by 3.9%.
It also revealed the overall hospitality and leisure sector grew by 6.7% - the highest increase since 2023.
Meanwhile, Barclays ‘10 Years of Spend’ report, which was released last month (June) found consumer spending in the hospitality and leisure sector has seen positive growth in the years from April 2021.
| Spend growth | Transaction growth | |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | -2.1% | -2.2% |
| Non essential | 0.8% | 0.1% |
| OVERALL | -0.1% | -0.8% |
| Hospitality & leisure | 2.1% | -1.5% |
| Eating & drinking | -0.5% | -3.9% |
| - Restaurants, cafés and bakeries | 0.9% | -1.7% |
| - Bars, pubs & clubs | -1% | -2.8% |
| - Takeaways and fast food | -2.1% | -7.3% |
| Entertainment | 8% | 7.1% |
| Hotels, resorts & accommodation | 2% | -2.8% |
