Tue 31st Jan 2023 - Festive visits boost hospitality in UK’s city centres but sales remain well below pre-pandemic levels Festive visits boost hospitality in UK’s city centres but sales remain well below pre-pandemic levels: Pubs, restaurants and bars in Britain’s top cities enjoyed a promising end to 2022 as consumers returned for the first normal Christmas for three years, the new “Top Cities” report from CGA by NielsenIQ and Wireless Social reveals. In the six-week festive period from 20 November 2022 to 1 January 2023, eight of Britain’s ten most populous cities recorded more wireless log-ins than they did in the equivalent period in 2019 for the first time – a strong indicator consumer visits are returning to pre-covid levels. Six of the ten cities saw sales beat the six-week period three years ago, following two festive seasons when hospitality was hit hard by restrictions and consumers’ concerns. However, soaring costs for businesses and consumers alike have dampened growth, and after adjustments for inflation, hospitality sales across the top ten cities remain well below pre-pandemic levels. Rail strikes also reduced visits to pubs, bars and restaurants in city centres in December. The report combines sales data from CGA by NielsenIQ with check-in data from Wireless Social to produce a “vibrancy” ranking of the ten cities. Glasgow tops the list ahead of Birmingham and Manchester after increasing both sales and check-ins on 2019. It is the fourth time in a row these cities have shared the top three spots. CGA’s separate Hospitality Market Monitor, with AlixPartners, indicates central Glasgow and Birmingham both now have more than 6% (6.2% and 7.1% respectively) fewer licensed premises than they did in December 2021, the highest year-on-year closure rate out of the top cities, suggesting reduced competition between pubs, bars and restaurants may be helping grow sales in these areas for managed operators. At the other end of the rankings, London is bottom for the fifth successive period as the return of sales and footfall after covid continues to lag behind other cities, despite steady improvement over 2022. CGA client director Chris Jeffrey said: “While footfall has returned, high inflation is making real terms growth very difficult, and as we move into 2023, venues face a triple challenge of soaring costs, fragile consumer confidence and rail strikes.” Julian Ross, founder and chief executive of Wireless Social, added: “The winter blues feel a lot stronger than usual right now due to the myriad challenges and issues that are out of business leaders’ control, and only time will tell how the sector ultimately recovers and bounces back.”