Trading in the lead-up to Christmas this year may appear weaker for hospitality venues due to being compared against sales made during the World Cup last year.
Last year’s Qatar World Cup took place between November and mid-December and provided hospitality businesses with their busiest days of trading that year.
Drink sales have only topped 1% growth once in the last eight weeks due to the comparisons, the CGA found.
During the first week of December, revenues dropped 9% year-on-year.
Beer sales fell by 9%, while cider and spirits dropped by 13% and 19% respectively.
On the second Saturday of December, revenues fell by 26% due to being compared against England’s knockout match, which ended up being the busiest day of trading in 2022.
Jonathan Jones, CGA’s managing director for the UK and Ireland said: “The World Cup of last December makes year-on-year comparisons difficult, but midweek performance suggests modest average growth in drinks sales at the moment.
“As festive occasions ramp up, operators and suppliers must hope that the weather and rail strikes don’t affect footfall. Total real-terms growth will be very hard won, but venues that strike the right balance of quality and value can look forward to a profitable Christmas.”
Rail strikes occurred during the first week of December, luckily there aren’t any more currently planned.