Managed pub groups up in August despite riots

Total sales, including new openings, were up 3.7% on last year, according to the Coffer Peach Business Tracker, which monitors sales performance across 23 major pub and restaurant operators.

During the week of the riots, the market fell by around 2%. Month-on-month August was down 1.8% on July.

“These figures are very encouraging and better than we would have expected given the combination of the riots, economic concerns and a very soggy August, which have all had a knock-on effect on consumer spend across the country,” said Mark Sheehan, managing director of Coffer Corporate Leisure.

“Anecdotally, it has been a challenging summer for operators both in and outside London. Yet the increase in collective like-for-likes within the pub and pub-restaurant sector, are a much truer reflection of the mentality we are experiencing at the transactional end of the market, where there is almost insatiable demand in certain areas and an acceleration in transactions being completed.

“The economic outlook may be uncertain but cash is still being spent.”

Richard Hathaway, head of travel, leisure and tourism at KPMG in the UK added: “Although year–on-year the sector has seen some growth and continues to outperform the general retail sector, performance has been essentially flat, bearing in mind inflation as well as the increase in VAT, which will be responsible for some of the growth.

Jonathan Leinster, head of UBS European Leisure Research, noted that listed pub companies such as Wetherspoon and Greene King had said that “value deals were driving volumes”.