According to the latest CGA by NIQ Daily Drinks Tracker, which measures average drinks sales in managed venues, New Year’s Eve trade outperformed 2023 by 373% last year.
Christmas Eve was also a key trading day for the festive season, with an uplift of 65% compared to 2023, according to the data.
The tracker revealed the last two weeks of 2024 on the whole saw strong real-terms growth in pubs thanks to a flurry of drinks sales, with managed venues achieving growth of 4.4% in the week to Saturday 28 December 2024.
Numbers were even higher the following week, with drinks sales finishing 7.5% ahead of the same period in 2023 during the seven days to Saturday 4 January.
Brighter weather
The late surge in trading followed negative numbers in the first half of December as trade was blighted by storms in some parts of the country.
However, brighter and drier weather made it easier for people to come out to celebrate as Christmas and new year got closer, CGA said.
CGA by NIQ commercial lead UK & Ireland Rachel Weller said: “It’s always tricky to make year-on-year comparisons at this time of year, but these numbers provide cautious confidence that the on premise ended 2024 on a high.
“However, suppliers and venues will need the tailwinds of decent weather and a pick-up in consumer confidence to generate real-terms growth.”
Category wise, the Long Alcoholic Drinks (LAD) and wine categories experienced a particularly good fortnight.
Beer sales were up by 6.9% and 14.5% in the weeks to 28 December and 4 January, boosted by a surge of interest in Guinness, leading to well-publicised shortages in some pubs in the run-up to Christmas.
Contrasting fortunes
Wine achieved big gains of 8.4% and 13.8% in the two weeks and growth was also solid for soft drinks at 3.7% and 11.3%. Meanwhile cider sales rose 3.6% and 9.8% respectively.
However, the late festive celebrations were not enough to revive the spirits category at the end of a challenging 2024, with sales down by 4.1% and 14%.
The contrasting fortunes of the main categories suggested some consumers moved away from spirits to longer serves, which can be perceived as “better value” for money, CGA explained.
This comes as figures from Oxford Partnership last week estimated more than 30m pints of draught beer or cider were poured over the key festive trading days of 2024.
Weller added: “With many consumers choosing longer LAD serves over short ones like shots, it’s also clear that businesses will need to provide spending-conscious consumers with full value for money to keep them coming back over Christmas.”
