Sport-filled bank holiday weekend set to drive sales

23-May-2024 - Last updated on 23-May-2024 at 14:54 GMT

Great expectations: a sporting weekend could help boost sales this late May bank holiday (credit: Getty/FG Trade)

Pubs that screen sports can expect bumper trading conditions during the late May bank holiday weekend.

Customers could be making a beeline to your pub to watch a multitude of action from the rugby union Champions Cup final between Ireland’s Leinster and French side Toulouse at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday at 2.45pm to the football FA Cup final featuring Manchester United and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium, also on Saturday, at 3pm – so make sure you get multiple screens split up.

There’s also the Scottish Cup final of Celtic v Rangers at Hampden Park – also at 3pm on Saturday – and Sunday will see the much-anticipated EFL Championship Play-off final between Leeds United and Southampton, at 3pm.

52.8m pints served

And there is also the F1 Grand Prix from Monaco all weekend with the race taking place at 2pm on Sunday, England v Pakistan T20 cricket on Saturday plus rugby league, golf and tennis across the weekend that runs from Saturday 25 May to Monday 27 May.

Looking back to last year, the final May bank holiday weekend of the year (Friday through to Monday) saw drinkers consume a whopping 52.8m pints of draught beer and cider across the UK, which was an increase of 10.4% versus 2022 (the Jubilee weekend), according to real-time market intelligence platform Oxford Partnership.

In individual pub terms, that equated to an extra 132 pints sold per pub versus the same period in 2022 and, most importantly, £200-plus extra in the till.

Across the entire weekend, the average pub served 1,394 pints of draught beer and cider, unquestionably helped by some glorious weather, and these sales equated to a £6,329 income generator.

FA Cup is huge driver of sales

Total beer sales rose 10.4% v 2022 with the key growth driven by world lager, apple cider and stout.

Oxford Partnership said, last year, the FA Cup final as the no.2 driver of on-trade sales across the quarter and was no.3 across the entire year so expects a similar effect this year.

Oxford Partnership CEO Alison Jordan said: “Last year’s bank holiday weekend was a bumper one for sports fans and added to some particularly good weather, the result was a really strong weekend of sales in the on-trade.

“While we have no guarantee about the weather this coming weekend, the packed sports diary alone should really prove to be a shot in the arm to the on-trade.”