Romford pubs most likely to survive crunch
Pubs in Romford, Essex are most likely to beat the credit crunch with people spending three times the national average on food and drink.
A survey by marketing firm CACI revealed that pubs in the South East as a whole are more likely to survive.
The survey suggests that each pub and restaurant in Romford has the potential to take an average of £3.7m a year — almost triple the average of £1.3m.
Second in the list was Harrow (£3.5m) and Camberley in Surrey (£3.3m). Solihull in the West Midlands and Fareham in Hampshire are the only two towns outside the South East in the top 20.
"Licensed premises have come under increasing pressure in recent years, with the impact of the smoking ban and rise in at-home socialising now exacerbated by the looming recession," said Nielsen Harrap of CACI.
"But not all areas are at risk. We can see from this research that several areas are still ripe for success, with our research showing that outside the M25 in areas of Surrey and Kent, pubs and restaurants have huge potential markets to tap into."
He added: "However, the general outlook for the market is not good — and it's concerning to see how small the available spend per licensed outlet is in London's older inner city areas and in parts of Northern England where pubs opened as smoke-stack industry developed.
"Whilst major residential expansion in parts of the South East, coupled with planning restrictions on pubs and restaurant development, has boosted the fortunes of outlets in some areas, others continue to suffer as residential patterns change and spend dries up."
