Pubs and bars registered strong September sales thanks to the Rugby World Cup and some warm weather; however, restaurants continue to struggle, with Brits cutting back on eating out ahead of the festive period.
Spending in restaurants was down close to 11% compared to September last year, while takeaway sales growth slowed to 6.5% last month from 9.2% in August, analysis from Barclays revealed.
Things have been slightly better for pubs and bars, a theme highlighted throughout most of 2023, with spending at venues up 6.1% year-on-year.
Overall, consumer card spending increased by 4.2% annually in September, lower than the rate of inflation - 6.3% - but higher than August’s rise of 2.8%, the UK bank revealed.
Around 45% of Brits said they are planning on cutting discretionary spending to save up for the festive period, with 60% revealing that eating out has been the first area of spending to be reduced.
Two in five people now think the festive period this year will be more expensive than the last and as a result, some families are buying gifts now or making mutual agreements with loved ones to give cheaper gifts.
Jack Meaning, chief UK economist at Barclays, said: “Over the last few months a picture has been building of consumers beginning to pull back on discretionary spending as the cost of living, and monetary tightening from the Bank of England increasingly bite. We’ve seen the warning signs from surveys, and now we see it in the more concrete spending data.
“This suggests the outlook for consumers, and the businesses that rely on them, is weak, even as they finally see their disposable incomes rise faster than inflation. It makes it hard to see anything but a relatively stagnant economy on the horizon.”