Prosecco beats Champagne on New Year's Eve

Sales of prosecco outweighed those of the traditional festive tipple of Champagne at the New Year.

That's according to a study by cloud-based software provider Epos Now, which studied sales data between 11.30pm on New Year's Eve and 12.30am on New Year's Day.

According to a poll of 800 pubs around the UK, during this hour prosecco accounted for 18% of total wet sales while champagne contributed to 17%.

During the time frame the two drinks accounted for more than one-third (35%) of pubs total drink revenue.

However the surge in sales was not sustained across the whole evening as, between from 5pm on 31 December to 5am on 1 January, champagne and prosecco together accounted for just 15% of total pub wet revenues.

Jacyn Heavens, CEO, Epos Now said: "It seems many people like to ring in the New Year with a celebratory glass of bubbly but that's typically where it stops. Champagne and prosecco are expensive and over the course of the evening as a whole people are still most likely to be enjoying a good old pint."

A separate poll which compared the revenue figures of 380 pubs and bars across the UK from 5pm 31 December 2016 to 5am 1 January 2017 to the same period a year earlier found a growth in overall sales for pubs.

Newcastle saw the biggest benefit with an 11% increase, followed by Brighton which was up by 9% and Edinburgh, 7%.

Heavens added: "It's clear that people in towns and cities across the UK were keen to get out and about to celebrate the New Year with many pubs seeing revenues grow significantly."

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