England’s progress in the Euro 2024 to defeat in the final has helped the On Premise deliver a third successive week of above-inflation growth in drinks sales.
CGA by NIQ’s Daily Drinks Tracker reveals average sales in managed venues in the seven days to last Saturday (6 July) were 6% up on the same week in 2023. It follows the same rate of growth in the previous week, and a 9% increase in the seven days before that.
Year-on-year growth is particularly impressive given the widespread cool weather of June compared to the high temperatures of last year. It peaked on Sunday (30 June), the day of England’s final group stage game against Slovakia, when sales rocketed 40% ahead of the same day in 2023. England’s next game, against Switzerland on Saturday (6 July), delivered a 29% upswing.
Trading was more subdued on other days of the week, as some sports fans saved their money for visits to pubs and bars during England games. Year-on-year sales were either flat or down by up to 9% every day from Monday to Thursday (1 to 4 July), before slumping 18% on Friday (5 July), which suffered against a very hot equivalent Friday in June 2023.
Beer’s close association with football in pubs made it the top-performing category of last week, with sales up by 14% year-on-year. Cider (up 8%) was another big winner. Soft drinks (down 5%) and wine (down 4%) fared less well, but spirits achieved marginal growth, thanks in part to post-match celebrations on game days.
“The Euros are driving a very strong late June and early July for pubs, bars and beer and cider brands,” says Jonathan Jones, CGA by NIQ’s managing director, UK and Ireland. “England’s involvement in the final should make Sunday the best trading day of the year for many venues. It’s important to remember that the tournament is neutral or negative for some venues, especially food-led ones, and those that do screen games on Sunday will have to compete with at-home viewing options. Nevertheless, England’s success is clearly creating a feel-good factor that will hopefully unlock more spending as the summer goes on.”
