Geronimo Inns, the managed pub group led by Rupert Clevely, has revealed it achieved a 6% increase in like-for-like sales over the Christmas period.
The company, which is backed by Penta Capital, added that total sales from 7 December last year until 3 January 2010 at its 28 pubs were up by 43.7%, compared with the same period last year. The six pubs acquired from Punch Taverns for £8.34m last summer accounted for 21% of the increase.
The like-for-like sales increase was at 21 of its pubs. Geronimo said the increase had been achieved, “with no promotional or discounting activity. We have seen a record number of Christmas bookings, with many of them being made by private individuals offsetting fewer corporate bookings.”
The 22 central London neighbourhood pubs averaged sales for the four-week period of more than £200,000 and 75% of them had a record week in the week ending 20 December.
Rupert Clevely, chief executive of Geronimo Inns said: “Overall, the Christmas period has been very successful with good trading. The evidence across our estate demonstrates that the London market remains strong, that people want to go out to quality food-led pubs and that Geronimo clearly is providing what people want, how they want it and at a price they can afford.”
The group said that other highlights of the festive period included:
*Credit cards accounted for over 50% of trade
*The number of pints sold were 37% higher, to more than 200,000
*Substantially more wine is being sold by the bottle rather than the glass (even in winter) and rose took market share from red and white (even in winter)
*Total food sales rose by 40% and there is more and more demand for retro pub nibbles like homemade scotch eggs and pork pies
Geronimo added that its pubs at Heathrow and St Pancras had achieved a 7% uplift in sales despite the poor weather and that sales at the newly opened Bull at Westfield had doubled expectations.
