Spending at pubs 'affected by Brexit'

Barclaycard conducted the study and found that though pubs and restaurants traditionally experience double-digit spending growth towards the end of June, spending entered negative territory and dropped by 0.44% in pubs while restaurants experienced a 0.46% fall between 24 and 30 June.

• Click here​ to see how Brexit will impact pubs​

In direct contrast, the same week in May this year showed spending growth of 20.5% for pubs and 20.1% for restaurants.

On the late June slump, Barclaycard suggested: "Consumers may have adopted a cautious mindset around discretionary spending in the days after the referendum result."

However, spending in pubs was up 12.1% overall in the second quarter of this year, which grew to 12.7% in June as football fans watched Euro 2016.

Fluctuations experienced

With Father's Day also in June, restaurants saw a hike of 11.2% and 11.6% increase in growth across the quarter in total.

• Click here​ to read the trade's reaction to Britain leaving the EU​

Managing director at Barclaycard Paul Lockstone said: "With some sectors experiencing surprising fluctuations across the weekly and monthly analyses, notably entertainment and leisure, it is difficult to predict how and where shoppers will continue to spend their money. For many, however, it seems to be a case of business as usual as we wait to see what the future holds."

European labour

Peter Backman, managing director of foodservice analyst Horizons, told The Morning Advertiser​: "Notably for food service, the pound will remain volatile and will trade at lower rates than over the past few years. Consumer sentiment will probably remain depressed, costs will be elevated and there will be some uncertainty over employment because of our reliance on European labour."

• Click here​ to find out more​