Tumbling drink sales hurt pubs

Consumers are leaving pubs in their droves and heading to the off-licence as the credit crunch bites, according to latest research.

Figures released by market research company Nielsen show that, while pubs are suffering one the worst years in living memory, sales of off-trade drinks have grown.

In the last year, on-trade sales have dipped 11 per cent compared to a three per cent increase in the off-trade.

The research also shows that consumers are cutting back on socialising, with 30 per cent saying they are spending less on going out than in previous years.

Jake Shepherd, marketing director at Nielsen, said: "Our sales figures which cover the early summer period show that 2008 has been worse than 2007.

"With people cutting back on unnecessary expenses and another dreadful July and August weather-wise, we don't expect to see this trend alter."

In volume terms, every major drinks category has seen sales declines in the on-trade in the last year.

Even cider, which was growing in excess of 30 per cent this time last year, is down one per cent.

The beer market has been particularly badly hit and equates to a £4.8million loss for the industry.

Shepherd added: "In the last economic downturn, at the beginning of the 1990s, there was still a large proportion of blue collar workers in GB who retreated to their local pub or working man's club to chew over hard times with their peers.

"As a result, beer sales remained relatively strong through that recession. Now we have a totally different social structure with a large proportion of jobs in the service sector so that drinking culture which kept the trade afloat in the early 1990s has faded and our data suggests that people are already cutting down on going to the pub."