Pub and restaurant visits increase but Britons continue to rein in spending
BRITONS are starting to make more frequent trips to bars, restaurants and clubs after two years of belt-tightening, in a sign that the leisure sector may be able to capitalise on “austerity fatigue”.
Pub and bar visits have increased by 2.2 per cent compared to last year, with the average UK consumer going to the pub 4.6 times a month compared with 4.3 in the summer of 2011, according to advisory firm Zolfo Cooper’s Leisure Wallet report.
The average spend per visit, however, has continued to decline, by 9.5 per cent in pubs to £14.69, as incomes continue to fall across the country.
Zolfo Cooper said that the average household income of the 3,000 consumers sampled fell by £640 to £30,584 year-on-year.
Paul Hemming, partner at the company said despite falling disposable incomes, “consumers are increasingly aware that the economy is experiencing a prolonged trough not a dip”.
“After at least two years of virtuous belt-tightening, they are fed up of being stuck indoors by an austerity curfew and are now beginning to venture out more often,” he said.
Restaurant visits were up by four per cent to 2.6 per month in the year while spending continued to slide by eight per cent to £15.90 from £17.28, which Zolfo Cooper said was “unsurprising” given the widespread use of vouchers. Clubs were hit by the largest decline in spending of 12.4 per cent.