Gloom deepens as on-trade sales fall

On-trade drink sales have continued their depressing decline with a drop in volumes of 8% for the year to the end of September, according to Nielsen.

Ale and lager volumes both slumped by 9% with the disastrous summer weather contributing to the slide.

The gloom continued in the once-thriving wine sector, which was 5% down, although sales of rosé continued to prosper.

Sales of soft drinks also took a 4% hit, again partly due to the poor summer.

The one bright spot was sales of cider where a 4% rise in draught volumes defied the slowdown, although packaged cider volumes were down 10%.

Nielsen consultant Graham Page described 2008 as the "year of the perfect storm", and warned that the industry now faces its severest test for decades.

Page said the trade was now bracing itself for October and November on-trade drinks sale trends that might even eclipse the volume drop recorded up to the end of September.

He said: "What we saw in 2008 were the worst on-trade beer and drinks sales figures for 80 years.

"Initially, the smoking ban bit hard. We had lower off-trade growth, higher prices from suppliers and via duty hikes, and consumers changing their habits as disposable cash got squeezed."

Elsewhere, there was a 14% decline in premium draught lager sales, with premium packaged lagers down 9% and some RTD lines dropping 15%. Spirits and stout volumes recorded some of the lowest volume drops of 6% each.

One upbeat performance was that of cask beer where better sales were driven by regional, family and independent brewers.

The rate of decline continued to slow — volumes were estimated to be down between 4% and 5%, almost half the decline of the general ale market.