Beer sales stronger in freehouses

A huge disparity in the sales performance of beer in freehouses, managed houses and tenanted and leased pubs has been laid bare in the latest figures from research house Nielsen.

Statistics for this September showed the average beer performance dropping year-on-year:

• 11.4 per cent in tenanted and leased pubs

• 9.8 per cent in managed houses

• Just 1.2 per cent in freehouses.

Nielsen consultant Graham Page cautioned that the figures did not take into account a large number of microbrewers and local ales.

But he added: "If this helps put the tenanted and leased model in the spotlight as to whether it is fit for purpose it is no bad thing.

"I think it is, provided you have a solid business, although the bottom 10 to 20 per cent are now incredibly exposed."

Page added that it was clear that cask ale was now helping the beer category in pubs move closer to growth again.

"Cask ale is holding up extremely well and it's clear that it is acting as a USP for pubs. There's no doubt that cask that it's outperforming the marketplace."

The statistics back up the findings of the Cask Ale Report, authored by beer writer Pete Brown and published in September, which suggested that cask in pubs moved back into growth earlier this year.

Looking at the market as a whole Page said it was clear that there were still many individual success stories in pubs today.

"The winners of The Publican Food & Drink Awards showed that there are a lot of pubs doing well," he said.

"And in the middle ground there are a lot of pubs doing OK given the circumstances."

Page praised managed operators ranging from Mitchells & Butlers to Barracuda for targeting promotions and segmenting their estates as a response to the recession - and succeeding as a result.