On-trade wine sales fall as prices surge

27-Nov-2012 - Last updated on 11-Mar-2017 at 23:24 GMT

On-trade wine sales have continued to decline

Years of relentless price increases in pubs, bars and restaurants have led to falling sales of wine in the on-trade, according to a new report by Accolade Wines.

The company, which owns the Hardys, Echo Falls and Stowells brands, said that customers were being increasingly turned off by the rising prices.

The report revealed the average price of a bottle of wine is now £15.31, up from £14.96 just a year ago. At the same time sales have declined by 1.4m cases in the past year and just under one million the year before.

“These figures are food for thought for the on-trade,” said Paul Schaafsma, general manager for UK, Ireland and AMESCA (Americas Middle East SubContinent Africa) at Accolade Wines.

“The whole on and off-trade is struggling due to ever-increasing tax hikes. These findings are another warning sign that the duty escalator is not working. The Government needs to look at the burden it is placing on small businesses.”

Non-branded wine still dominates the on-trade but brands are growing in popularity, with sales of branded wines up from 33.6% of the market last year to 35.4% this year. Schaafsma said this was because the average price of branded wine was significantly lower than non-branded wine, at £12.37 per bottle versus £17.15.

The report also showed food-led pubs sell twice as much wine as wet-led venues, uncorking 263 bottles a month on average, against 130 bottles.