Hospitality sales growth falters in five of the UK's top cities

According to CGA and Wireless Social’s latest Top Cities report, five cities are experiencing negative sales over the four weeks to 30 July 2022 versus the same time period in 2019, the first time this has occurred since the report was launched in January.

Sales across the top five cities - Glasgow, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Leicester - in the vibrancy rankings for July were between 0.2% and 6.2% higher than the corresponding four-week period in 2019, but with inflation having broken the 10% mark sales are declining in real terms.

Glasgow has returned to the top spot on the list of most vibrant cities, up from sixth place in June, while last month’s top city Leicester fell to fifth place.

Birmingham climbed from fifth place to second, Manchester rose from seventh place to fourth, while Bristol retained its third place positioning.

London continues to have a relatively poor vibrancy ranking, being placed at number nine in the list, with sales down 7% on 2019 figures.

“Following its performance in the first half of the year, it’s no surprise to see Glasgow back on top and it’s promising to see Birmingham climb back into second position. However, it’s clear that despite the sales growth seen across some cities, the sector is still facing substantial challenges in the form of inflation, rising costs, staffing shortages and supply chain issues,” says CGA client director Chris Jeffrey.

“With half of the cities on the vibrancy ranking report seeing negative sales versus 2019 for the first time since January and cost of living concerns beginning to impact consumer spending, it looks likely that challenging trading conditions will continue to affect the sector.”

The ranking report is based on a combination of sales data from CGA’s Managed Volume Pool of more than 8,000 pubs, bars and restaurants, and Wireless Social’s guest data gathered from more than one million log-ins.

Julian Ross, founder and CEO at Wireless Social, says while growth in some part of the country is encouraging, the economic climate continue to be extremely concerning for hospitality businesses.

“The cost-of living and energy crises rage on, with seemingly no clear objectives or support measures in place or even on the table – without this intervention, the industry is heading for an extremely bleak autumn and winter.

“Support for our sector is desperately needed, and it’s needed now.”