CGA’s Drinks Recovery Tracker has highlighted continuing improvements in on premise drinks sales following the reopening of late-night hospitality. During the week ending 14 August, sales were just -5% behind the same week in 2019, having been as wide as -27% during the week that included the 19 July reopening in England.
Barring the May bank holiday weekend, this latest week was the best performing period since hospitality reopened in April, as growing consumer confidence saw a fifth consecutive week of improvement since England’s ‘freedom day’.
The removal of mandatory restrictions in Scotland and Wales on Monday 9th was also a welcome boost to top-line performance. Joining unrestricted England (down -5%), the average Welsh outlet experienced a flat year-on-year performance, while Scotland lagged at -13%, which was however, a significant improvement to last week’s figure of -28%.
Jonny Jones, CGA’s managing director, UK & Ireland, commented: “It’s pleasing to see week-on-week performance returning to pre-COVID-19 levels as more obstacles are taken away, such as prohibitive restrictions, in all GB markets.”
“Further boosts have come from the welcomed return of live events such as the Premier League and we know that there are still many outlets and consumers who are taking smaller steps out of COVID-19, which will hopefully escalate as confidence grows. On the flipside, there are still headwinds on the horizon in the form of the supply chain, particularly for the Beer category, which may take some shine off recent performance.”
Precis
On premise drinks trade continues to recover
CGA’s Drinks Recovery Tracker has highlighted continuing improvements in on premise drinks sales following the reopening of late-night hospitality. During the week ending 14 August, sales were just -5% behind the same week in 2019, having been as wide as -27% during the week that included the 19 July reopening in England. Barring the May bank holiday weekend, this latest week was the best performing period since hospitality reopened in April, as growing consumer confidence saw a fifth consecutive week of improvement since England’s ‘freedom day’.
