Pubs benefit from a World Cup Christmas

Pubs, bars and clubs saw a year-on-year uplift in spend for December 2022 of 12.6%, the biggest increase since May 2022. 

Christmas parties and the FIFA World Cup boosted takings despite the impact of December’s rail strikes.

New data from Barclays, which sees nearly half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, reveals that spending on non-essential items across the UK grew 4.1% year-on-year – the largest rise since July 2022. 

Restaurants, meanwhile, although still in decline compared to 2021 (-3.9%), saw a noticeable improvement compared to the year-on-year growth seen in November (-10.3%). 

The uplift in non-essential spending year-on-year in December 2022 is in part due to the spread of Omicron in the run up to Christmas in 2021, which caused hospitality to perform poorly at the time, thereby inflating 2022’s growth figures. 

You may also be interested in…