Drinks sales for outlets still able to trade in the run-up to Christmas collapsed to barely a quarter of 2019’s levels, CGA’s trading data shows.
The Drinks Recovery Tracker indicates that sales per outlet across Britain’s pubs, bars and restaurants in the week to Boxing Day (26 December) were down by 73% on the equivalent week a year earlier.
In the penultimate week before Christmas (to 19 December), sales were down by 76%.
Big festive occasions for drinking out over the week—like ‘Mad Friday’ (down 75%) and the last Saturday before Christmas (down 71%)—were a shadow of their 2019 equivalents.
The steep drop in sales followed very strict limits on trading, including a tightening of England’s tiered system that saw more than four in five venues unable to welcome guests.