Performance over the month was driven by households with childre, with their expenditure on eating out up £14 (22%) year-on-year. However, overall the average British household spent 8% less in total on leisure during the month compared to November 2013, down £16 to £193, though spending was up 3% compared to October.
The main cause of the fall in total leisure spend decline was a drop of £19 (20%) in “other leisure” spending, covering items such as theatre-going, live events and gym membership, against November last year.
The company said that eating-out benefitted from continued growth in footfall at retail parks across the UK. The report said: “The availability of food in a retail environment continue to make this activity an obvious option for punctuating a shopping trip.”
Drinking out
Drinking out spending was flat compared to last year at £42.88, although it was 4% higher in November than in October.
The report said: “Drinking-Out spend year–on-year highlights the ingenuity of pubs and other wet-led venues in retaining spend levels given an underlying trend of declines in the volume of alcohol consumed. However, the continued relative underperformance of Drinking Out compared to Eating Out suggests a greater exposure to food over drink will continue to pay dividends for operators shifting their sales mix in this direction."
The report found that non-family households continue to outspend family households when it comes to drinking out. However, the difference in spending has shrunk markedly - last year, spending among non-family households was £10 higher than their counterparts. This November, the gap halved to just £5.
Year–on-year, the shift towards a greater percentage of spend being allocated Eating Out and Drinking Out at the expense of Other Leisure continued to be reflected across all household types in November. Family households again represented the most dramatic shift with combined spend on Eating Out and Drinking Out moving from 57% to 62% over the last year.
The report also showed that increased spend on Drinking Out among households in London and the South East year-on-year, in the context of declines in overall leisure spending, saw this activity account for 3% more of average household leisure spend compared to last year.
Eating out 'becoming a staple'
Steve Jebson, Greene King’s commercial director, said: “The trend for eating out has, once again, improved this month, indicating that this is fast becoming an established staple of everyday family life. This month, eating out benefited from visitors to retail parks, particularly during last month’s ‘Black Friday’ week, when shoppers spent their leisure time looking for discounts on Christmas presents.
It will be interesting to see how leisure spend in all categories fares over December, in the lead up to Christmas. Eating out and drinking out should benefit from the festive parties and celebrations, while ‘other leisure’ may see a boost as the pantomime season gets underway and parents look to occupy the children while on school holidays.”
Christmas
Meanwhile, a special Christmas survey revealed that the pub is still the most popular place to celebrate Christmas Eve outside of the family home, with more than one in 10 people planning a trip to their local this year.
On Christmas Day, approximately 2.9 million Britons intend to go to the pub, with households in the North East of England twice as likely to go as the GB average.
Jebson said: “Pubs are still very much at the heart of the community, especially when it comes to a special event like Christmas.”