A tough budget drove concern throughout the whole of the On Trade with cost increases to business rates, employers national insurance and the national minimal wage.
JDWetherspoon, which runs nearly 800 pubs across the country, said its tax and business costs are expected to increase by about £60 million over the next tax year.
The total number of trading UK on trade outlets in the year-to-date to October is showing an overall decline of 0.4% which is a stand still position from last month.
Outlet opening hours have seen a slight improvement from September of 0.1% a further 1.5% but the year-to-date figure remains relatively flat with a minimal rise of 0.2%.
There was some good news to be had in the trade with a marginal growth in occupancy levels of 0.1% versus the same 4 weeks in September but sadly the same could not be said for consumer dwell time down 1.1% month on month albeit up slightly 0.2% over the previous 12 weeks.
The Barclays credit card data shows completely flat consumer spending across pubs and bars but unfortunately a decline for restaurants of 0.6%. Compared to the previous month, this represents a small decline for pubs and bars of 0.6% but a heavier drop for restaurants of 2% which was a disappointing result overall. Christmas cannot come soon enough!
The only 2 categories seeing any real growth in October were World Lager and Stout. However, versus the same 4 weeks in September, all categories saw some uplift in sales except for Ale. Stout led the charge with a month on month increase of 4.3%, followed by Premium Lager at 3.4%, Craft at 3.3% and World at 2.7%.
