Extra 15 million visits for pubs over Christmas

UK pubs, bars and clubs saw an extra 15 million visits over Christmas compared with the previous year, in a further sign that consumer confidence is returning.

That's according to the CGA Peach Trading Index, which found that there was a total of 165 million visits to pubs, bars and clubs over Christmas 2014.

The research looked at Christmas footfall trends from 5,000 consumers, along with sales data from 5,000 managed outlets across the UK. It found that 37.8 million consumers visited an on-trade business in the four weeks to 3 January - the equivalent to an average of more than four visits each.

A typical venue sold an average of 569 more drinks over Christmas than in an average month, and over the four weeks, total food and drink sales were up 2% on last year.

Other findings in the report included:

• Festive footfall reached a peak on New Year's Eve, when 11.3 million visits were made to the on-trade (half of them to pubs)

• Christmas Eve and ‘Black Friday' were also important trading days, with 9.6 million visits paid on each (the latter marked the on-trade's best day for drinks sales)

• Christmas Day was the day attracting the largest total of food and drink sales, as more and more consumers choose to eat out

• Food is now just as important to pubs as drink, which accounted for 51% of total sales over Christmas, down from 52% last year

• Consumers like to experiment when eating and drinking out at Christmas, with 2.2 million trying a new product or drink.

CGA Strategy client services director Rachel Perryman said: "This research shows that visits to pubs, bars, restaurants and clubs are an integral part of the UK's Christmas but it also reveals ways in which the on-trade can get an even bigger share of the festive spend. Operators who get their offer spot on and are prepared to experiment with products and promotions will be best placed to take advantage when Christmas comes around again."