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Pub and restaurant sales up 2.1% in November

Published:  19 December, 2011

Pub and restaurant sales in November grew 2.1% on last year, says Coffer Peach Business Tracker.

Total sales, including new openings, put sales 6.2% ahead of last November, according to the analysis of 24 major pub and restaurant groups.

It is the sixth consecutive month that the on-trade market has seen positive trading. Like-for-likes increased 0.9% in October, on the back of a 2.8% rise in September, a 0.6% increase in August and a 1% advance in July.

"Although below the headline rate of inflation, the figures demonstrate the underlying resilience of the market and that the public still want to out to eat and drink", said Peter Martin of Peach Factory, who producers the report in partnership with KPMG, UBS and the Coffer Group.

But the retail sector suffered its worst performance for six months in November, according to the British Retail Consortium/KPMG Retail Sales Monitor. UK retail sales values fell 1.6% on a like-for-like basis, with total sales up just 0.7%.

Mark Sheehan, managing director of Coffer Corporate Leisure, said: "Restaurants are competing against heavy discounting a year ago, while in the managed pub sector sales are generally strong, albeit against a low base in 2010. Although the outlook is uncertain and operators are certainly being conservative with budgets, these figures show a relatively robust sector."

Richard Hathaway, KPMG's head of travel, leisure and tourism, added: "Monthly aggregated like-for-like sales are up and encouraging. The fact that the sector has shown yet another month of growth clearly demonstrates that those strong operators who understand their customers and provide them with 'value' can still deliver a robust performance in an austere and volatile economy."

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