Drinks sales show 'cautious optimism'
According to the tracker, in the seven days to Saturday 8 October average sales in managed venues were 3% ahead of the same week last year.
CGA managing director UK and Ireland Johnathan Jones said: “A third week of year-on-year growth shows operators and suppliers are responding very well to all the external challenges thrown at them.”
The data showed five of the seven days were in year-on-year sales growth, having peaked at 10% and 14% on Monday and Tuesday (3 and 4 October).
Tough comparatives
However, in line with recent trends, Friday sales (down 3%) were weaker, while Saturday reached parity with 2021 despite another day of nationwide train strikes.
Category wise, beer and cider both saw double digit growth for a second week in a row with increases of 10% and 13% respectively, while soft drinks (up 6%) and wine (up 1%) had a solid week too.
Spirits were in double-digit decline (13%) for the sixth successive week, though the category has faced tough comparatives from 2021, when many drinkers were celebrating the full reopening of the on premise with cocktails and shots.
Across all categories, average sales throughout the week were 4% ahead of the pre-pandemic levels of October 2019.
This comes as the previous tracker revealed in the seven days to Saturday 1 October, sales in managed venues were 3% ahead of 2021 despite what Jones described as “economic turmoil”.
Cautiously optimistic
Furthermore, while real-terms growth has continued to be wiped out by inflation, Jones added the sector could be “cautiously optimistic” in the run up to Christmas.
He said: “Consumers are clearly still happy to spend time and money in pubs, bars, and restaurants, despite the pressures on their discretionary spending at the moment.
“Mounting energy, food and property bills, and turmoil in the economy, are casting a long shadow over Christmas, but we can be cautiously optimistic the sector will show more resilience over the next couple of months.”
