Figures from real time market intelligence firm Oxford Partnership revealed the average pub served 289 pints of draught beer and cider on Friday 20 December.
It equated to a total of 10.9m pints in total across the UK and generated £1,440 in revenue for pubs.
Marking the last Friday before Christmas, the day is often referred to as ‘Mad Friday’, as consumers look to start their festive celebrations.
Decent performance
Compared with the same Friday last year (22 December 2023), total sales were down 1.8%.
The North of England performed the strongest with the North East up a 14.4% and the North West by 8%.
London too had a strong night with sales up 6.1% against 2023 levels while the South West delivered a decent performance with a sales uplift of 3.6%.
This was in sharp contrast to Scotland which was down by 9.7%, while Wales was down 9.6% and the West Midlands by 9.9%.
The big beer and cider category winners on Mad Friday were stout - which saw a 19% uplift, and apple cider, up 5%. World Lager also had a decent night with a sales up 2.8%.
Hopeful festive season
Stout took 17.4% of the category’s total sales, its highest-ever share of category performances, attributed in part to the widely reported Guinness shortage, Oxford Partnership added.
On the flip side the craft beer segment saw a 16.5% drop while flavoured cider declined by 12%. Core Lager was also down by 8.2% compared to last year’s levels.
World 4% beer, which was the top performing segment on ‘Mad Friday’ in 2023, saw a 6.4% downturn.
Oxford Partnership chief executive officer Alison Jordan said: “We had all been hoping to see strong results for the on trade in the run up to Christmas and despite a very marginal drop year on year, our data demonstrates a hopeful festive season for draught sales.”
