Sales were also 3% behind the pre-pandemic levels of September 2019, though the year-on-year gap in sales was much wider in real terms after adjusting for inflation.
CGA managing director UK and Ireland Johnathan Jones said: “The bank holiday weekend helped the drinks market end the summer on a high, but these September figures may be setting the tone for a challenging autumn.
Restraining growth
“Consumers are fearing significant reductions in disposable income, and even at venues beating last year’s trading, high levels of inflation and increased costs are restraining real terms growth.”
Trading suffered by comparison with warm weather in the equivalent week in 2021, having dropped by 19% and 12% on Tuesday and Wednesday.
However, sales rallied on Thursday, rising by 9%, but fell back to finish flat on Friday and 3% down on Saturday.
Category wise, spirits struggled to match the high trade of September 2021, when many consumers were celebrating the full return of pubs and bars after lockdown with cocktails and shots, with sales down 17% while cider and soft drinks were also in the red with sales down 4%.
Tracker trends
Wine sales remained flat however the beer category provided a bright spot, with 3% ahead of September 2021.
This comes as last week’s tracker saw sales increase by 10% in the seven days to Saturday 3 September compared with the previous year and 15% vs 2019.
Jones added: “With Government support for consumers and businesses announced last week and hopefully more on the way, it will be interesting to see how trends in the tracker take shape over the coming weeks.”
