Pubs in decline as off-trade grows

PUBS have lost 4% of alcoholic drink sales to the off-trade since 1988, according to a Datamonitor survey of on-trade market managers published last month. The figure covers a period of social as well as economic change, and deserves some analysis.

The report says that many brewers claimed their pubs were an exception to the decline in sales, but most acknowledged the trend towards the take-home market. People used to frequent pubs because they saw them as more comfortable than their own home.

This is apparently no longer the case, and customers are happy to take alcohol home to drink, especially when "home" is enhanced by the various forms of home entertainment now available. Further competition for the traditional pub comes from leisure activities such as bowling alleys, cinema complexes and sports centres which also incorporate licensed premises.

There has been a fall in the total number of pubs since 1985. The report says there are now around 58,000 pubs in the country. Most marketing managers expect this figure to continue to decline steadily.

A balancing factor which maintains the on-trade is, according to the report, the increase in the number of customers over 40, a group which includes the majority of consumers of pub food.

The report also highlights the expansion of the pub restaurant. It suggests that it will attract customers with a "higher discretionary spend".

The inference is that customers with a limited discretionary spend prefer the relaxed atmosphere of the pub restaurant and the less expensive menus which they find there compared with more formal restaurants.

Pubs have to offer something more than drinks in order to compete. The answer is clearly the informal restaurant, and the service of snacks and wine by the glass to match the changing needs of a public more inclined to eat out than in the past.