City centres 'building back' from pandemic as hospitality sales rise

The latest in a new series of Top Cities: Vibrancy Ranking reports from CGA and Wireless Social combines sales and device log-in data to assess the performance of Britain’s 10 most populous cities over the four weeks to 12 February 2022.

It shows that Bristol was the most vibrant of the ten cities, with eating-out and drinking-out sales in modest growth from pre-Covid-19 levels and check-in numbers improving. Sales were also up in Manchester, lifting the city from ninth place in the last report to second in this one. Glasgow is the third-placed city, while Sheffield moves up four places to fourth.

“After two very difficult years for Britain’s city centres, our report is proof of their growing vibrancy as Covid restrictions ease,” says Chris Jeffrey, CGA’s client director.

“Positive trends in Bristol, Manchester and elsewhere raise hopes that sales and footfall may soon return to pre-pandemic norms. However, while many consumers are making up for lost time in pubs, bars and restaurants, others remain cautious about spending as inflation mounts, and trading in London remains particularly challenging.

“Recovery is going to be fragile, and achieving real-terms growth will be tough amid high inflation. But it is already clear that hospitality will be pivotal to the economic revival of Britain’s cities in 2022.” 

Across the ten cities monitored by CGA and Wireless Social, sales were just 3% down on the same period in 2019 — a sharp improvement on the 10% shortfall in the previous four weeks.

However, with inflation running high, sales are substantially lower than 2019 levels in real terms. Since check-in numbers are flat compared to the previous period, the improvement may be due to greater spending per head rather than increases in visits.

Elsewhere in the rankings, London is in bottom place for the second time in a row, with sales and check-ins still 11% and 38% down on pre-Covid-19 levels respectively. While both figures are improvements on the previous four weeks, it suggests workers have been slow to return to the capital, and the shortfall of tourists has reduced sales further.

There were modest drops in sales in other leading cities, but clear signs that trading is improving.