There was a 1% drop in average drinks sales in managed venues in the seven days to Saturday (17 August)—the third year-on-year drop in four weeks in the wake of civic unrest and patchy weather. However, that spell followed a much more positive run of three weeks of strong year-on-year growth out of four, thanks in large part to the Euro 2024 football tournament.
The latest year-on-year drop is a disappointment given the widespread good weather of last week, and may reflect consumers’ hesitancy about going out after the riots in some British cities and towns. The heatwave led to year-on-year growth of 8% and 14% on Sunday and Monday (11 and 12 August), but numbers were negative for the three days after that. The return of the Premier League on Friday (16 August) helped drive growth of 9%, but Saturday sales fell back 7%.
High temperatures and the return of Premier League screenings made it a good week for the cider and beer categories, where sales grew by 10% and 1% respectively. However, soft drinks (down 1%), wine (down 5%) and spirits (down 9%) were all in the red.
“It’s been an up-and-down summer for many On Premise venues and suppliers, with trading performance varying widely from week to week and even day to day,” says Jonathan Jones, CGA by NIQ’s managing director, UK and Ireland. “It reflects very changeable weather in July and August, but also the contrast of powerful sales drivers like Euro 2024 and the major challenge of civic unrest. We can be optimistic that conditions will stabilise as the summer closes, but year-on-year growth will continue to be hard-won.”
The Daily Drinks Tracker provides analysis of sales at managed licensed premises across Britain and is part of CGA by NIQ’s suite of research services delivering in-depth data on category, supplier and brand rate of sale performance. To learn more, click here, or contact Jonathan Jones, CGA by NIQ Managing Director, here.
