Pub sun income run continues as heatwave drains restaurant trade

The latest Coffer Peach business tracker figures have revealed managed pub like-for-like sales are up by 2.7% against last July.

However restaurant groups have seen a drop of 4.8% compared to July 2017.

The fluctuation â€" ascribed to the hot weather gripping the country â€" managed to cancel out the results for both, with the the combined managed pub, bar and restaurant sector recording exactly 0% growth.

Peter Martin, vice president of CGA, said: “Continued sunshine and England’s longer than expected participation in the World Cup meant July followed a similar pattern to the previous month of June, when pubs were up 2.8%, except that restaurants were hit even harder.

"The fall of 1.8% in trading in June just got worse in July.

"Drink-led pubs and bars performed by far the strongest with like-for-likes up more than restaurants were down.

"Food-led pubs also suffered in the sun with negative like-for-likes, although not as dramatically as the restaurant operators.

“It seems people just wanted to go out for a drink. Across managed pubs and bars drink sales were up 6.6% for the month, with food down -3.0%.”

The boost for pubs and struggles of restaurants were particularly pronounced in London, where like for like sales rose by 2.6%

Trevor Watson, executive director at Davis Coffer Lyons said: "This was driven predominantly by the capital’s pubs market â€" buoyed by England’s unexpected progression at the World Cup â€" which were trading 6.1% ahead.

"The rest of the country had a more difficult period with like-for-like sales down 0.9%.

"Restaurant trading fell a painful 5.6% â€" compared with 2.8% down in the capital â€" with pub like-for-likes up just 1.7% despite the football.”

 England’s World Cup boosts pubs but restaurants pay penalty>>

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