While drink-led pubs benefited from the football event with sales up 2.4 per cent, restaurants recorded flat sales and pub restaurants even saw a drop compared to the same month last year.
“The World Cup may have helped drink sales in pubs, but it did little for the eating out market,” said Peter Martin of CGA Peach.
“Overall, drink-led managed pubs saw like-for-like sales up 2.4 per cent on June last year, with drink sales ahead 2.8 per cent and food essentially flat. The biggest boost came in the week of England’s first match, when LFLs in drink-led pubs and bars were up 10.9 per cent. The following week, LFLs were ahead 3.7 per cent.
“But after England’s exit the effect was lost and the market fell back more into balance. During those first two World Cup weeks, restaurant chains had seen sales down between 3 per cent and 5 per cent. Across the month as a whole, branded restaurants LFLs were flat, with pub restaurants down on last June. The truth is that while big set-piece events like the World Cup may boost part of the market, the overall effect on eating and drinking out is much more muted,” he added.
London-led boost
London saw better trading than the regions, with sales up 1.6 per cent, while outside the M25 like-for-likes were down 0.3 per cent on last June. Total sales, including the impact of new openings, were ahead 3.1 per cent across the country.
“Despite the distortion of the World Cup, the 0.4 per cent like-for-like growth for June is still an improvement on the 0.2 per cent growth seen in May, and that result means that he 28 companies now contributing to the Tracker have collectively seen positive like-for-like sales for each of the past 15 months. Growth may not be exceptional but it is steady,” pointed out Martin.
For the 12 months to the end of June, year-on-year like-for-like sales were up 2.7 per cent, with total sales up 5.4 per cent.
‘Positive results’
Mark Sheehan, managing director of Coffer Corporate Leisure, said: “These results are positive, especially considering the eating-out market had to contend with sport on television every night from June 13 onwards. While pubs had a short-term boost from England’s brief appearance, for them too it was a challenging month.”
Paul Newman, head of leisure and hospitality at Baker Tilly, added: “With the World Cup distorting June’s like for likes, it is difficult to make broader longer-term comparisons. It is no surprise however, that wet-led establishments benefited from the tournament more than restaurant chains thanks to the peak-hour friendly kick off times during its early stages.”
Pubs across the country recorded a £116m sales boost during the World Cup, according to research released on 11 July by vouchercodes.co.uk.