Coffer Peach Tracker festive season lfls up 2.5%

Pub, bar and restaurant groups saw festive season like-for-like sales grow 2.5% year-on-year, the Coffer Peach Business Tracker has revealed.

Bar businesses saw the greatest uplift in lfls (3.9%), and managed pub and bar groups collectively grew by 2.7% with drink sales up 2.4% and food sales up 2.2%.

Trading was also positive across the chain restaurant market, which saw lfls grow 2.3% compared to the same period (six weeks to 5 January) in 2018.

Total sales over the period, which include the effect of new openings, were ahead 5.4%.

“There is a post-election sense of optimism, and food and drink consumers have driven the first wave of this during the pre-Christmas period,” said Mark Sheehan, Managing Director at Coffer Corporate Leisure.

“This year, we are starting to see cautious confidence in the market although expect that any uplift in trade and consumer confidence will be steady rather than spectacular. We expect market activity in 2020 to see an increase on 2019 levels.”