Total draught volumes were up by 3.9% against July 2025 , according to the latest Market Watch from The Oxford Partnership and Vianet’s BevMetrics, while the average rate of sale increased by 5.2%.
This was despite the number of operating venues decreasing from 100,436 to 98,795 over the past 12 months.
However, of those remaining venues, average occupancy rose by 3.3 per centage points to 65.91%.
Repeated reasons to visit
Dwell time also saw an uplift during July - up 12 minutes year on year to 154 minutes while average spend per head reached £26.91 - up 3.4% with food spend increasing by 4.7% and drink up 2.4%.
The Oxford Partnership CEO Alison Jordan said: “July showed what the on-trade can achieve when major occasions and favourable weather come together.
“The World Cup gave consumers repeated reasons to visit pubs and bars while the prolonged hot weather extended the opportunity across beer gardens, terraces and more spontaneous social occasions.
“What is particularly encouraging is this translated into tangible commercial growth. Venues did not simply attract more people or keep them for longer, they converted that engagement into higher draught volumes, stronger rate of sale and increased spend.”
Business insight
She added: “With fewer venues operating than a year ago, this reinforces the importance of compelling occasions and helping operators maximise the entire visit across both food and drink.”
Elsewhere, London saw draught volumes up 8.2% against the same month last year followed by suburban locations at 4.6% and rural at 3.9% while city locations recorded 1.1% growth.
This comes after data from the insight firm showed pubs saw an additional £1,891 each during the men’s World Cup tournament.
During the competition, which kicked off on 11 June and concluded on 19 July, there were an addition nine pints per pub, per day sold across the period - up 5.% on the same timeframe last year.
