Spending on eating and drinking out-of-home flattened out in May, with a slight 0.3% decline in like-for-like sales - in contrast to a 3.8% uplift in the holiday month of April, according to latest Coffer Peach Business Tracker data. But the sector still outperformed retail sales.
Figures from the Tracker, which monitors sales performance across 22 major pub and restaurant operators, also showed total sales growth slowing among the sample – up just 1.7% on the same month last year, compared with a 6.2% increase in April. Month on month May was down -6.1% on April.
However, eating and drinking-out still held up better than retail. According to the British Retail Consortium / KPMG Retail Sales Monitor UK retail sales were 2.1% lower on a like-for-like basis in May, with total sales down 0.3%.
“Poorer weather after the hot spell and what looks like a post-Easter and Royal Wedding hangover among consumers will have played their part,” said Peter Martin of Peach Factory, the market consultancy which produces the sector Tracker in partnership with KPMG, UBS and the Coffer Group. “Nevertheless, the negative dip is disappointing as it marks the first month this year which as seen a fall in eating and drinking out sales, albeit a marginal one.”
“The good news is that if eating and drinking out are a better barometer of consumer confidence than retail, then the country is perhaps in better spirits than many think. Despite reports to the contrary, people are still going out,” he added.
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