Pubs continued to make hay while the sun shone over the second four-day bank holiday in two weeks, and as before, sites with outdoor areas performed more strongly. However, the wedding day itself proved a mixed bag, with some seeing sluggish trade, particularly in the day time, as the public opted to stay at home. Restaurant operators, meanwhile, found trading tough in general. M&C Report gauged the views of 10 companies.
Grand Union Group
“It was a bit of a mixed bag,” said Adam Marshall, managing director of the London pub operator. On the one hand, its Brixton site took around £75,000 over the period, up from its usual figure of about £40,000, and other pubs such as those in Wandsworth and Kennington also performed strongly. But its “winter” pubs, those with fewer outdoor facilities, did suffer - sites in Islington and Kentish Town were down by about 15%. Thankfully the uplift at some sites more than made up for the dip at others. Marshall added that the wedding itself was “a bit of a let down”. “We were set up for people to come to see the wedding in our pubs and they didn’t. A lot of people went to the pub after the wedding and stayed for the afternoon and evening as well.” Marshall also pointed to the “exodus” out of London during peak trading times as the weather improved over the past two weeks.
Tasty
Jonny Plant, chief executive of the Aim-listed operator of the Wildwood and Dim T brands, said trading across its London sites had been “tougher than expected” as people decided to stay away from the capital during the royal wedding. He said: “Outside the capital trading was fine and in line with our expectations. As always those places with outside seating were at an advantage and performed well.”
Charles Wells Pub Company
“It’s like another Christmas,” said managing director Anthony Wallis. He revealed that volumes at Charles Wells pubs were up 12% over the past three weeks against the same period in 2010. Wallis said the good weather suited its estate of mainly country and suburban pubs, which generally have decent outdoor areas. He said the wealth of activities that took place at Charles Wells pubs during the period, which also included St George’s Day, helped encourage people away from their sofas. “There’s a lot of barbecues going on [at home] but a lot of people want to go to the pub as well.” He added: “The last time we were getting this excited was the [football] World Cup but that [expected increase in trade] didn’t really happen. This time we were well prepared, with St George’s Day, Easter and the royal wedding.”
McMullen & Son
Managing director Peter Furness-Smith said Thursday “became the new Friday”, with customers packing pubs in the evening. This balanced out the dip in trade on the wedding day itself, when sales were down by about 25-30% on a normal Friday. Bank holiday Monday, however, was “out of this world”, as customers enjoyed the good weather in beer gardens - sales were up around 25% on the early May bank holiday last year.
Market Town Taverns
Managing director Ian Fozard said trading was quiet in the daytime of the wedding, but “picked up nicely” after that. “Those [pubs] with outside areas had pretty good weekend and those that didn’t had a pretty ordinary weekend. I think generally my feeling is we’ve had a pretty reasonable bank holiday season but nothing special.” He added: “We’ve got some taverns that do exceptionally well but other town centres sites [that don’t].”
Tampopo
David Fox, managing director at the six-strong, Pan Asian restaurant chain, said the company’s sites in retail and leisure locations had been impacted by the wedding and the good weather. He said: “For example, in Manchester’s Trafford Centre footfall was down by 19% on the day of the royal wedding, which is bound to have an affect. The majority of our sites have been in line with expectations, but with our classic business drivers, such as office workers off work, there has been a knock on impact on trading levels.”
Pub People Company
Managing director Kevin Sammonds described trading as “exceptional”, with takings across the company’s 48 sites up around 20% on normal levels on the royal wedding day. Sammonds attributed this to the effort that was put into making sure the sites were ready for the bumper trading period, with the pubs freshened up to ensure, for example, benches were cleaned so they looked appealing from the outside. Sammonds said it disproves the idea that home-drinking is now the default option for such an event. “People want to be outside and they want to drink in pubs with other people, not at the home. I think it indicates the opportunities that there are for pubs if operators get their acts together.” Trade was also strong across the other three days, up by around 15%, with both food-led and drinking pubs doing well.
Coal
John Gater, chief executive of the seven-strong restaurant chain, said the company had traded “comfortably ahead” of the comparative period a year ago. He said: “From Thursday lunchtime onwards we seem to gain momentum across the entire extended weekend with both Friday and Sunday evening in particular proving busy. The majority of our sites have outside seating which has also been beneficial over the last couple of weeks.”
Joule’s
Managing director Steve Nutall described trading across the month as a whole as “buoyant” at Joule’s 20 pubs, with sales up 20% on the previous April. However, the wedding weekend and bank holiday was less busy of the two four-day holidays. “A lot of people were watching the wedding at home. The pubs that did events were reasonably well supported but I don’t think the wedding itself helped enormously. We’ve not had any bumper days but we’ve had nice, consistent trading throughout.” Nutall agreed that Thursday trading across both holiday periods resembled a usual Friday.
Ever So Sensible
Drink sales were “astonishingly brilliant” over both double bank holiday periods - up 30% - but food sales were “flat”, said Chris Bulatis, managing director of the Nottingham-based pub and restaurant group. He believes the slump in food sales was due to the hot weather encouraging people to have barbecues at home. On the evening of the wedding day itself, food sales resembled those on a usual Monday, Bulatis added.
