Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Hospitality sales flat in January as consumer spending squeezed

Published: 15 February, 2024

Britain’s leading hospitality groups generated like-for-like sales growth of just 0.1% in January according to CGA.

Premium chains lead restaurant market growth

Published: 14 February, 2024

According to Lumina Intelligence, the UK restaurant market reached a value of £18.6bn in 2023, spearheaded by premium branded establishments and menu price inflation.

Friday read: Maximum impact – the cancelled train strikes impacting bookings by 50%

Published: 19 January, 2024

The ongoing threat of strikes is causing unmitigated damage to the UK hospitality industry, with business telling Harpers they can impact trade by 50% or more, even if they don’t go ahead.

Welsh hospitality calls for business rates relief

Published: 14 December, 2023

UKHospitality Wales has called on the Welsh government to boost beleaguered pubs, hotels and restaurants in Wales and provide vital business rates relief in next week’s Budget.

Licenced premises down by a third since 2003

Published: 30 October, 2023

The number of licenced premises in Britain has fallen below 100,000, marking a 31% decline in the two decades since 2003.

No-shows in hospitality double

Published: 18 October, 2023

The latest research from Zonal and CGA by NIQ, reveals the number of consumers not showing up for reservations in pubs, bars and restaurants has doubled since September last year.

Scotland’s call to government as hospitality faces ‘continued barrage of challenges’

Published: 03 October, 2023

The Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) is pleading for more support to help protect the hospitality sector, as venues report the crippling impact of staff vacancies and ‘a continued wave of cost increases’.

Flaming June offers some respite for hospitality

Published: 26 July, 2023

A scorching June helped Britain's managed restaurant, pub and bar groups achieve a ninth successive month of year-on-year sales growth, according to the latest Coffer CGA Business Tracker.

Exclusive: Hallgarten to hold duty rise in bid to ease pain for trade customers

Published: 25 May, 2023

Faced with a significant duty rise from 1 August, many in the business of selling wine are bracing themselves for a new round of pain. Unwilling to pass on price rises to cash-strapped customers, but needing to protect already thin margins, this unpopular hike in tax is understandably the talk of the trade. And all of this is to happen at a time when implementation will impact on hospitality outlets, forcing a reorganisation of wine lists during the crucial summer trading period.

Scotland on-trade facing ‘tidal wave’ of challenges, says SLTA

Published: 31 January, 2023

Scotland’s pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels face an unprecedented cocktail of challenges, according to the most recent Scottish Licenced Trade Association (SLTA) survey.

UK's leading restaurants nudge back into the black

Published: 09 January, 2023

Research unveiled by accountancy group UHY Hacker Young shows that the UK's top 100 restaurants returned to profitability in 2022, after four years of consecutive losses.

Turnover up, but profits down, suggests CGA on-trade report

Published: 09 December, 2022

Footfall across the hospitality sector is up on 2019 levels in Britain’s key cities, although high inflation and rail strikes remain major concerns.

Restaurant owners forced to borrow 12% more than last year

Published: 05 December, 2022

The amount restaurant owners are borrowing to keep their own businesses afloat has increased 12% in the past year, from £377 million in 2020/21, to over £424 million in 2021/22, says Mazars, the audit, tax and advisory firm.

Consumer spending in pubs, restaurants and takeaways down since start of pandemic

Published: 02 December, 2022

The average amount consumers spend each month in restaurants, takeaways and pubs has fallen since the start of the pandemic, with restaurants the hardest hit, new research has found.

An independent survey of 2,000 UK adults, conducted by Peckwater Brands, claims rising inflation and energy costs have reduced consumer spending, leaving hospitality businesses at risk.

Restaurants have seen the highest drop-off in consumer spending since the start of 2020, down 16% from £58.90 per person per month to £49.30. Spending in pubs fell 14.6% from £47.90 to £40.90, while spending on takeaways saw the lowest reduction, falling just 10% from £47.70 to £42.30.

While the cost-of-living crisis continues to loom large, the majority (63%) of UK adults surveyed said they still consider takeaways a treat they look forward to, with 34% intending to continually get them regularly (at least once per month) with 33% budgeting for this expense.

DO Rueda inviting UK trade to join #TasteRueda campaign

Published: 07 November, 2022

Aimed at indies and restaurants, DO Rueda’s new marketing campaign is inviting sign-ups to join in the promotion of Rueda wines across the UK.

On-trade closures tally one an hour as economic crisis bites

Published: 20 October, 2022

Hospitality has lost 2,200 licenced venues in three months as crippling costs and staffing issues continue to hit business operators.

Energy surcharges loom as restaurants face crippling costs

Published: 08 September, 2022

Businesses are facing a brutal decision this winter: charge customers to keep the lights on, or risk going bust under eye-watering energy bills.

UKH urges government to issue on-trade rescue package

Published: 31 August, 2022

UKHospitality (UKH)chief executive Kate Nicholls has written an urgent letter to the UK government, outlining the potential disaster facing thousands of businesses in light of the energy crisis.

Record 64% of the UK’s top 100 restaurant companies are now making a loss

Published: 08 August, 2022

The national accountancy group, UHY Hacker Young, has revealed that a record 64% of the UK’s top 100 restaurant companies are now making a loss.

1,406 UK restaurants go under in just 12 months

Published: 25 July, 2022

UK restaurant insolvencies have jumped 64% from 856 in 2020/21 to 1,406 in the past year as rising inflation and labour shortages drive restaurants out of business.