UK pub and restaurant groups have reported a slight increase in like-for-like sales during July.
The Coffer Peach Tracker, which monitors the performance of 23 major pub and restaurant groups, found like-for-like sales climbed by one per cent last month, after a 3.9 per cent rise in June.
Total sales, including new openings, were up 3.1 per cent on 2010 despite continued global financial uncertainty. The new figures also show that pubs and restaurants continue to out-perform the retail sector. According to the British Retail Consortium/KPMG Retail Sales Monitor total UK retail sales were up just 0.6 per cent in July.
"This is encouraging news for operators," said Peter Martin of Peach Factory, the market consultancy which produces the sector Tracker in partnership with KPMG, UBS and the Coffer Group. "Like-for-like sales saw a healthy 3.9 per cent leap in June largely because of the dampening effect of the previous year’s football World Cup, but to see continued growth in July, when the weather was not particularly helpful, shows that the leading chains are working hard getting their consumer offer right.
"But operators will not be complacent. Last week’s city riots will have hit trade badly for many and they will be concerned about the long-term effect on confidence and the willingness of people to continue to go out, particularly in urban areas."
