Pub sector outpaces high street

Latest industry figures have brought some cheer to the pub and restaurant sector, with the on-trade outperforming the high street and the pace of closures continuing to slow.

With a further boon anticipated for the sector with next week’s royal wedding, figures for March show that pub and restaurant sales were up 0.9% for the month and 4.9% on the quarter.

Meanwhile the British Retail Consortium reported last week that high street sales were down 3.5% for the month.

The on-trade saw an uplift in trade thanks to events like Mother’s Day as well as increased use of new media marketing techniques, according to Deutsche Bank pubs analyst Geof Collyer.

Collyer said the latest figures are “reinforcing the view that consumers are still prepared to spend on low-ticket items and that the internet is being used increasingly by pub and restaurant companies as a marketing tool to help drive sales.”

Meanwhile the British Beer and Pub Association confirmed that pubs across the UK closed at a rate of 40 per week last year – down from 52 per week in 2009.

Alan Lodge, 19.04.2011