Figures from real time market intelligence firm Oxford Partnership revealed outlet opening hours saw a marginal decline of 0.05% in the week to Saturday 16 November 2024, which was an improvement on the year-to-date trend of 2.1% down.
The change in trading hours was driven by increased levels of consumer usage with occupancy having risen by 0.7% against the same week last year, however the length of visit stayed flat.
In the year to date, consumer dwell time in minutes has risen 2.8% while outlet occupancy has declined by 0.3%.
Marginal uptick
During the 12 weeks to 16 November, length of visit jumped 2% and average percentage of how full outlets were dropped 2.1%.
Overall opening hours were down 2% in the year to date and 0.2% in the past three months.
In addition, credit card spending has been consistently flat for some time in pubs and bars while restaurants have seen a 0.6% downturn in recent weeks, the data showed.
Category wise, sales of draught beer and cider saw a marginal uptick in the week to 16 November, driven by rural and suburban outlets, which saw a 1.5% and 0.6% increase in draught beer volumes.
London outlets saw a big increase, up 4% versus the same week in 2023, as last year the city was blighted with the threat of tube strikes, which kept consumers at home.
Fingers crossed
Stout has continued to drive forward within the beer category, with sales up 23.9% during the week.
World Lager also performed strongly, up 5.4%, while core lager performed poorly with a 7.6% downturn.
Premium Lager started to see improvements with only a 1.7% decline versus a year-to-date trend of 3.2%.
Oxford Partnership CEO Alison Jordan said: “The tough trading conditions for UK hospitality continue to bite so the great hope is for an outstandingly successful Christmas.
“We all have our fingers tightly crossed. Sadly, the storms over the weekend did little to help as for many operators, their consumers didn’t venture out in the bad weather”