Drinks sales in Britain’s On Premise last week were ahead of 2022 levels for the fifth week in a row, despite the September heatwave coming to an end.
Average sales in managed venues in the week to Saturday (16 September) were 7% ahead of the same period last year, CGA by NIQ’s Daily Drinks Tracker shows. It follows a year-on-year leap of 16% in the previous week as temperatures soared—though growth was more modest at around 1% over the fortnight before that.
Sales were ahead of September 2022 on every day of last week, peaking at 12% on Thursday. A run of good weekends continued with growth of 6% and 5% on Friday and Saturday.
Cider was the best performing category for the second week in a row, with sales 17% ahead of last year. Beer was also in double-digit growth at 10% while soft drinks (up 7%) and wine (up 5%) weren’t far behind. However, the spirits category continued a tough year of comparatives with a 3% dip in sales.
“It’s encouraging to see solid year-on-year growth in drinks sales despite the end of the heatwave, and it goes some way to making up for the washout of August,” says Jonathan Jones, CGA’s managing director, UK and Ireland. “News this week that inflation has eased and interest rates have been held will raise hopes that consumers might be able to spend a bit more freely in the final few months of the year—though real-terms growth will continue to be hard won.”
