Modest growth for on-trade in July

By Mathew Lyons

Published: 12 August, 2019

Like-for-like sales for pubs and restaurants were up 1.2% year on year in July, according the the latest data from the Coffer Peach Business Tracker.

Restaurant sales were up 3.8% on July 2018 while pub sales fell back 0.2%.

Last July’s figures were impacted by the football world cup and exceptionally sunny weather, which boosted pub sales but depressed restaurant business.

Restaurants outside London outperformed those in the capital in July, posting growth of 4.3% against 2.4%. However, London’s pubs saw growth of 0.1% against a regional decline of 0.3%.

Overall, non-London trade was up 1.3% while sales in London rose 1%.

Karl Chessell, director of CGA, which produces the tracker in partnership with the Coffer Group and RSM, said: “Considering the barnstorming July that pubs had last year, holding relatively steady this July will be seen as a good performance, and restaurant groups will be more than relieved with their sales recovery.

“Following a good showing in June when collective like-for-likes across the sector grew 1.4%, the eating and drinking-out market is showing some resilience. Nevertheless, with Brexit looming, there will be real nervousness about a crash in autumn.”

Trevor Watson, executive director, valuations at Davis Coffer Lyons, said: “Decent weather in 2019 has no doubt helped sustain performance on the wet-led side. We continue to see very good results from quality operators with good demand for new sites across the country from both established and emerging operators across both sectors.”

Total sales for the sector were up 3.6% year on year, taking into account the effect of net new openings since this time last year.

Data from the tracker also confirms the revival of wet-led business in the UK. “While managed pub groups continue to expand slowly, during July, restaurant groups registered more closures than openings,” Chessell said.

Underlying like-for-like growth for the Tracker cohort, which represents both large and small groups, was running at 1.8% for the 12 months to the end of July, up from 1.6% at the end of June.

The Coffer Peach Tracker analyses data from 54 restaurant and pub groups across the UK covering both large and small operations with a collective turnover of over £9 billion.

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