Figures from real time market intelligence firm Oxford Partnership revealed 34.8m pints were poured over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
It means pubs sold an average of 921 draught pubs, equating to £4,584 in revenue.
Moreover, sales were up 2.6% over the five-day period compared with the same period in 2023.
Christmas Eve proved to be the key night with sales up 9% year-on-year, led by the South East, which saw growth of 12.3% against 2023.
East Midlands (up 11.5%), the South West (up 11%) and Wales (up 10%) also performed well ahead of the average.
As with previous years, suburban outlets traded the best overall, up by 3.2%. City Centre sites saw marginal growth of 0.3%.
Strong few days
In the days leading up to Christmas day, footfall was also up (9.7%) compared to 2023, largely driven by suburban outlets.
Though the length of average visit declined, with consumer dwell times falling to an average of 125 mins compared with 137 mins in the same week last year, an 8.8% decline, with suburban outlets experiencing the largest decline at 10.4%
Poor weather conditions over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day then negatively impacted trade, with sales dropping 1.3% and 7.1% respectively.
Edinburgh venues were hit hard after the city cancelled its Hogmanay celebrations due to the weather, leading to a 6.3% downturn in sales.
This was echoed in the North East where volumes were down 10.6%, the North West, which was down 6.6%, and Yorkshire with a decline of 5.6%.
It followed previous data from Oxford Partnership that showed more than 10m pints were sold on ‘Mad Friday’ (Friday 20 December).
Oxford Partnership CEO Alison Jordan said: “We had all been hoping to see some decent results for the on trade in the run up to Christmas and thankfully, our data demonstrates a really strong few days for draught sales.
“It’s just a shame that the weather limited the sales potential for the New Year.”
Category winners
The big category winners over the key Christmas trading days were stout, up 21.1%, and World Lager (14.4%). Craft (up 4.1%) and apple cider also performed well (up 3.5%).
On the flip side, World 4% declined by 11.9% and core lager dropped 10.9%. Premium lager was also down 9.3% as well as fruit cider (down 7.4%).
Separate data from CGA by NIQ showed managed hospitality groups recorded year-on-year sales growth of 2.7% the week before Christmas (Monday 16 – Monday 23 December).
Though the special weekly edition of CGA’s Hospitality Business Tracker, produced in partnership with RSM UK, found while sales were above inflation, trade was not “divided equally across the market”.
A confluence of Christmas parties, late-night sporting events, and convenient bank holiday scheduling contributed to the strongest performance seen among managed bars this year (20.5%), though pubs saw only minor growth of 0.7%.
Food-led operators saw a relatively stronger performance, with like-for-like growth of 3.4% in the on the go sector, and 2.1% in restaurants.
CGA added the data showed while spending may have been restrained, there was still consumer desire to make the most of special occasions, particularly in bars.
In addition, CGA said with staffing costs among managed groups expected to rise even further in April, this Christmas “carried the burden” to make up for strained trading in the previous year and bolster business for the year ahead.
