On a comparable basis, February sales at Britain's leading restaurant, pub and bar groups were 3.9% up year-on-year, a recent Coffer CGA Business Tracker suggests
"Hospitality trading is now consistently ahead year on year, and consumers’ appetite for pubs in particular remains undimmed," - Karl Chessell
The tracker, created by CGA by NIQ in partnership with the Coffer Group and RSM UK, has now grown against last year for five consecutive months.
But the figure, which dropped sharply in January from 10.1 per cent, and is well below the UK's current inflation rate.
Pubs finished best of the three market segments of the tracker, continuing a solid start to 2023 with comparable sales down 6.9% on February 2022.
Restaurants grew modestly 1.9%, but its bars segment continued its struggling with a 10.1% decline in sales.
Straight away from the pattern seen in recent months, sales in London in February far exceeded the rest of the country.
The Coffer CGA business tracker shows that sales over the M25, were 7.6% up on the year, more than double the 3.1% growth recorded over the M25.
"London continues to rebound strongly," - Mark Sheehan
Mark Sheehan, Managing Director at Coffer Corporate Leisure commented, 'Hospitality sales continue to grow, but still lag inflation. London continues to rebound strongly. There is strong demand for the best sites in London and we expect this to continue. We expect to
see sales growth mainly on the back of price rises, but what operators need to see across the board is increased volume, which is difficult to see until wage rises outstrip inflation.'