Managed bars welcome strong growth in December
It was the strongest performance seen among managed bars last year.
Bar operators from around the UK saw their strongest growth of 2024 in the build-up to Christmas.
A mix of Christmas parties, late-night sporting events and convenient bank holiday scheduling all contributed to the strongest performance seen among managed bars last year, delivering 20.5% growth, according to the Hospitality Business Tracker produced by CGA by NIQ.
This will be a welcome boost for part of the sector struggling the most and one which has spent most of the past year in decline.
CGA by NIQ says it is a welcome reminder that although spending may be currently restrained, "there is still remarkable consumer desire to make the most of special occasions".
Weekly tracking
The special weekly edition of the Hospitality Business Tracker also showed that Britain’s hospitality groups recorded year-on-year sales growth of 2.7% in the run-up to Christmas (week commencing 16 December 2024 versus week commencing 18 December 2023).
With sales beating recent inflationary benchmarks, it was a week of solid performance. However, the success has not been divided equally across the market.
Food-led operators saw a relatively stronger performance, with like-for-like growth of 3.4% in the on the go sector, and 2.1% in restaurants. Meanwhile, pubs saw only a minor growth of 0.7%.
CGA by NIQ collected sales figures directly from 110 managed groups for this special edition of the CGA RSM Hospitality Business Tracker.
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