Last week’s hospitality sales remained soft — down 8% on 2020 levels. However, with the ending of Plan B restrictions potentially in sight, sales were up 4.5% on the previous week — albeit from a low-base mark.
Week-on-week sales in London were up 1%, whereas week-on-weeks in sites outside of the capital were up 5%.
The majority of the like-for-like decline remains in London sites, where sales suffered a 23% fall on 2020 levels last week. Non-London, on the other hand, saw a smaller 3% drop in sales when compared to the same week in 2020.
S4labour’s Chief Customer Officer, Sam Wignell, said: “Operators have started to see a slight turning of the tide and sales are, for the first time this year, starting to grow week-on-week. However, these rises are from a low point and there is a long way to go before the industry is in full recovery.”