Fri 23rd Sep 2022 - Hospitality underpins city centre vibrancy, but cost pressures threaten recovery Hospitality underpins city centre vibrancy, but cost pressures threaten recovery: Pubs, bars and restaurants are still driving the post-covid-19 renaissance of Britain’s top cities, research from CGA by NielsenIQ and Wireless Social shows – but costs pressures are threatening the recovery. The joint “Top Cities” report combines CGA’s sales data with device log-in data from Wi-Fi solutions provider Wireless Social to provide a “vibrancy” ranking of Britain’s ten most populous cities over the four weeks to 27 August 2022. Birmingham tops the report’s list for the first time in 2022 – just ahead of Glasgow, the leader in the previous four-week period. Leicester and Liverpool are among the cities on the rise in the new chart, in third and fourth place respectively. At the other end of the rankings, London is in tenth place – extending a run that has seen it finish no higher than eighth in any period so far this year. Sales and footfall in the capital have suffered from a shortage of office workers and tourists despite the ending of covid-19 restrictions. Leeds’ performance mirrors that of London – with the city staying towards the bottom of the vibrancy rankings. The report also reveals signs that hospitality’s city-centre recovery is at risk of slowing. Sales in four of Britain’s ten biggest cities were lower than in the equivalent pre-covid-19 period of 2019, while footfall, as measured by device log-ins, was behind in all ten. CGA client director Chris Jeffrey said: “Restaurants, pubs and bars are integral to city-centre life, especially at a time when so much of retail has moved online, and they are at the heart of Britain’s recovery from the covid-19 crisis. But as these figures show, that recovery is increasingly threatened by the impact of soaring fuel and food costs on businesses and consumers alike.” Julian Ross, founder and chief executive of Wireless Social, added: “While the government’s recently announced support package on energy bills is set to be extremely beneficial for small and large businesses in our sector, it’s vital the support doesn’t simply dry up.”