Sales in pubs and restaurants down 5% due to cold weather

16th February 2010, 9:01am

The cold January weather pushed like-for-like sales in Britain's pubs and restaurants down by 5%, according to figures from the monthly Coffer Peach Business Tracker.

Total sales were down 3.2% on January 2009. Peter Martin of Peach Factory, which produces the Business Tracker, said: "With so many city centres feeling more like ghost towns it is perhaps surprising that the figures weren't worse. It proves once again the major effect that bad weather can have on this sector."

The disappointing January results come on the back of a strong December, which saw like-for-like sales ahead 2.9% on December, 2008 - marking a healthy performance by big name operators.

"Bosses in the sector remain generally optimistic," added Martin. Peach Factory's Business Leaders' Survey shows that just under 50% of senior executives are fairly optimistic about the coming year, compared to a little over 20% who are fairly pessimistic and 30% who are neutral. The positive sentiment is strongest among food-led rather than drink-led businesses.

David Coffer, chairman of the Coffer Group, continued: "The extreme weather conditions changed consumer patterns and downgraded turnover across the board in January, a month traditionally lacklustre in the trading calendar. 

"The real effect of the discounting deals that the industry has seen in the last 18 months will surely come to surface soon and it will be interesting to see the impact it will have on the bottom line. The test of recovery will be in the next quarter's results."

The Coffer Peach Business Tracker is run in partnership with KPMG, UBS and the Coffer Group.

Related Articles:

• 16 Nov 2010 - Chain restaurants continue to grow in sales
• 21 Jul 2010 - Top pub and restaurant chains see sales recover in June
• 23 Jun 2009 - Pub and restaurant sales remain resilient

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