Christmas and new year trading figures for pubs, bars and restaurant groups saw a like-for-like (lfl) sales decline of 0.1% nationally, according to the latest Coffer Peach Business Tracker.
Collective sales for the six weeks to 7 January 2018, were marginally down on the same period in 2016, with drink-led businesses faring best in terms of trading.
Managed pub groups did better than casual dining restaurants, delivering a small increase in trade with collective lfls up 0.6%, while restaurant chains saw a 1% decrease.
Across the managed pub market, drink sales were up 1.8%, while food was down 1.4%.
In terms of geographic location, while the whole of the country saw a relatively flat trading period, London saw a bigger contrast in the performance of restaurants and pubs, with casual dining down 2.6% inside the M25 and pubs up 1.5%.
Outside the M25 pubs were up 0.3% while restaurants fell 0.7%.
CGA said it was too early to gauge the impact of Dry January this year but pointed to consumer data form December which found 20% of respondents were planning to go sober this month, the same proportion as last year.
“Essentially it was a repeat of last Christmas,” said Peter Martin, vice president of CGA, which produces the Tracker in partnership with Coffer Group and RSM. “Better trading in the second half of the festive season, when people were mainly off work, failed to provide enough of a boost to beat 2016’s overall numbers,” he said.
Total sales growth for the 37 companies in the Tracker was up 3.4%.
Mark Sheehan, managing director of Coffee Corporate Leisure said: “Despite very negative press particularly associated with restaurant sector trading, the eating and drinking out market is not in free fall.
“There is no question that the trading environment is competitive but these numbers are not the car crash that has been widely portrayed. 2018 will be a challenging year and we expect to see bars and pubs trading more robustly than restaurants.”
Paul Newman, head of leisure and hospitality at RSM, added: “Increased drinks spend across the managed pub market over the festive period was not enough to offset disappointing casual dining like for likes, rounding off a flat year for the sector and failing to give operators Christmas cheer.
“Since the New Year a number of high profile brands have already announced site closure plans and with consumer confidence waning and uncertainty ahead of Brexit, we expect our restructuring teams to be kept busy in the months ahead.”
