Last month was challenging for the UK hospitality sector with longer customer visits failing to convert into stronger trading performance, according to The Oxford Partnership’s October Market Watch.
While opening hours continued at an average of 64.6 a week, the real-term value of each visit continued to drop as a result of inflation and rising operational costs, the intelligence business revealed.
Dwell time was up to 14 minutes however, rate of sales and overall volume fell across most regions.
Measured optimism
This found London recovered following September’s transport disruption while Scotland, Yorkshire and the north east recorded some of the strongest dwell time increases and Wales had uplift in dwell and rate of sale.
Elsewhere, the data looked at beer category performance. Stout saw double-digit growth of 10.9% while premium and world lager also held firm with growth of 1.2% and 4.2% respectively.
However, craft beer recorded another notable decline, down 7.7% and ale dropped by 4.3% with cider easing to 2.1% moving annual total as seasonal patterns normalised after the summer peak.
Despite the challenges of last month, as the sector prepares for the festive season, there has been measured optimism heading into the traditionally busy period.
Resilience demonstrated
Young’s recently reported Christmas reservations ahead as did Fuller’s while The Oxford Partnership found Google searches for hospitality rose by 40% month on month, indicating strong appetite for Christmas.
The Oxford Partnership CEO Alison Jordan said: “Operators continue to demonstrate resilience in an extraordinarily difficult climate.
“The strong early Christmas indicators are encouraging but they o not offset the sustained real-term pressures the sector has faced this year.
“As one of the country’s largest employers and a cornerstone of local communities, hospitality needs conditions that allow it to trade sustainably.
“The forthcoming Budget is a pivotal moment for [the] Government to recognise the scale of the challenge and the importance of safeguarding the sector through winter.”
