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According to the Barclays Consumer Spend report, the overall hospitality and leisure saw a 2.2% rise in spend and an 0.8% increase in transactions.
Bars, pubs and clubs saw significant growth - 7.4% in spending and 10% in transactions.
This was ahead of restaurants, cafés and bakeries (2.1% transaction growth but 0.3% drop in transactions) as well as takeaways and fast food, which saw 1.8% spend growth but a 5% decline in transactions.
Elsewhere, consumers reported feeling more confident in their job security and ability to buy non-essentials, as discretionary spend grew 1.6%.
Spending strengthened
Confidence in both the UK and European economy was up six percentage points each respectively with the latter reaching its highest point in more than 10 years.
However, travel spending declined for the fifth consecutive month - down 0.3%with airlines contracting 6% but travel agents saw a 2.5% rise.
Moreover, hotels, resorts and accommodation grew 2.6%, suggesting demand for staycations continues.
Barclays head of spend insights Rohan Kumar said: “Card spending strengthened further in July, reaching its highest level for 12 months, with both essential and non-essential spend remaining in growth.
“Multiple factors played a part, with UK staycations, continued warm weather and England’s World Cup run lifting spending on travel, hospitality, everyday essentials and seasonal retail categories.”
Previous data
This comes after data from Dojo showed spending in hospitality venues during the World Cup was up 16% against the previous month.
Spending uplift was also 9% higher on average in the on-trade, compared to the Euros in 2024.
England’s semi final match against Argentina saw spending up by more than three quarters (78%) against a typical Wednesday while Heineken UK’s managed operator pubs reported total sales up 178% compared with the same date last year.
Meanwhile, research from Square showed pubs and bars saw revenue increase by 90% during World Cup match periods.
