Rising costs and weak confidence hit hospitality sales in April

Britain’s leading hospitality groups saw like-for-like sales fall by 0.4% in April as consumers tightened spending amid mounting economic uncertainty, according to the latest NIQ and RSM UK Hospitality Business Tracker.

It marks the third month of negative growth in the last four for the tracker, which is produced by NIQ, powered by CGA intelligence, in association with RSM.

Restaurant sales were marginally ahead of April 2025 at 0.1%, although this was down sharply from the 2.5% growth recorded in March. Pub sales slipped by 0.2%, while bars continued to struggle, with like-for-like sales dropping by 5.8% – the sector’s weakest performance since October.

The tracker includes a range of operators, including Azzurri Group, owner of ASK Italian and Zizzi, Bill’s Restaurants, Evolv Collection and Village Hotels.

Recent closures and restructuring activity from operators including Revolution Bars Group and BrewDog have underlined the ongoing pressure facing the bar sector.

Saxon Moseley, head of leisure and hospitality at RSM UK, said growing geopolitical and economic uncertainty was continuing to weigh on consumer confidence.

“It’s hard to ignore the growing impact that the conflict in Iran is having on UK consumer confidence, with discretionary spending increasingly constrained by higher petrol prices,” he said. “Against this backdrop, the industry is working incredibly hard just to stand still, with operators continuing to cut back on employment to manage soaring costs.”

He added that operators would be hoping a strong summer of sport and good weather could help drive spending in the months ahead.

Karl Chessell, director – hospitality operators and food, EMEA at NIQ, said hospitality groups’ like-for-like growth had now remained below inflation for 12 consecutive months.

“With key operating costs so high and consumers’ spending restricted yet further by the impacts of high oil prices, trading conditions won’t be getting easier anytime soon,” he said. “Pub operators in particular will be hoping for brighter weather to tempt people out and stimulate spending over the summer.”