Consumers spend more on hospitality in 2022

Pubs, bars and restaurants saw an overall increase in consumer spending last year, as people chose to treat themselves more following Covid-19.

Consumer card spending increased 10.6% year-on-year in 2022, as the lifting of all Covid-19 restrictions encouraged Brits to eat and drink out more often. 

The new insights comes from Barclaycard’s monthly Consumer Spending Index, which combines hundreds of millions of customer transactions with consumer confidence data to provide an analysis of UK spending. 

The lifting Covid-19 restrictions meant that pubs, bars and clubs benefitted from a pent-up demand for drinking and dining out, recording growth of 37.1% and 53.6% respectively. This growth also explains some of the fall seen in grocery spending, suggesting that customers opted for meals out instead of cooking at home, as they made up for missed opportunities.

The reopening of live event venues also gave the entertainment sector a sizeable boost (up 41.1%), spurred by demand for festival and theatre tickets and family days out.​

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