Sales Remain "well below" in Town Centre

Sales Remain "well below" in Town Centre

Data based on information from 8.000 pubs showed that eight out of the 10 towns included in data had experienced more wireless logins over the six weeks from 20 November 2022 to 1 January 2023 than in the corresponding

period of 2019.

Sales surpassed the seven-week mark in six of the 10 cities three years ago after hotel and catering was hit hard by consumer disruption and concern following two holiday days.

But in inflation terms, rising business and consumer costs dampened growth in December after rail strikes cut visits to pubs, bars and restaurants in inner cities.

Head of Customer Chris Jeffrey said:

According to the Top Cities report, which combines CGA sales with check-in data provided by Wireless Social, Glasgow topped the list ahead of Birmingham and Manchester, having raked in both sales and check-in for 2019 an

sharing the first three places for the fourth year running.

With sales up 18% year-on-year, the soft drink category significantly exceeded the market.

"With year-on-year growth topping inflation so far in January, it's clear that consumers are as keen as ever to drink out," - Jonathan Jones

This was the highest year-on-year closure rate among all the top towns, and less competition could result in an increase in sales in those areas for operators.

The latest "Top Cities" report closes a year with monthly rankings of Britain's best cities for liveworthiness.