Disappointing weather and fragile consumer confidence pushed on-trade drinks sales down year on year in the first half of May, NIQ’s Daily Drinks Tracker shows.
The Tracker, powered by CGA intelligence, shows average sales in managed venues in the week to Saturday, 9th May, were 3.1% behind the same period in 2025. This was followed by an even deeper loss of 10.2% in the following seven days.
The slow start to May means pubs, bars, and suppliers have had negative growth in 13 of the first 19 weeks of 2026, and in four of the last five.
Parts of Britain have faced sustained periods of wetter-than-usual weather this year, keeping drinkers at home when they might otherwise have gone out. Consumers’ spending has also been held back by mounting concerns about inflation in key household costs, which have worsened since the conflict in the Middle East drove up oil prices.
The latest Daily Drinks Tracker shows sales were down on each of the 12 days from 5th to 16th May. Brighter days of the fortnight coincided with warmer weather and important football fixtures, including the Champions League semi-finals and FA Cup final. But in between those better spots, trading dropped by as much as double-digits on three straight days from 11th to 13th May.
Football helped to make beer the best of the major drinks categories over the fortnight. Its sales outperformed the market as a whole, dropping 1.5% and 7.2% in the weeks to 9th and 16th May respectively. However, there were bigger losses in other key categories like cider (down 7.7% and 25.5%), soft drinks (down 4.5% and 10.8%), and wine (down 4.7% and 8.7%). Spirits (down 13.5% and 17.6%) had another very tough fortnight, with some drinkers chasing what they perceive to be better value in longer serves like beer.
The disappointing sales leave the on-trade hoping for a sunny bank holiday weekend to bring people out of home and release built-up demand for pubs and bars.
“A challenging May, on the back of a soft start to the year, is a real cause for concern for the on-premise,” said Rachel Weller, UK and Ireland commercial lead at NIQ powered by CGA. “There are important mitigating factors, like the disappointing weather and war in the Middle East, but that’s little comfort to pubs, bars and suppliers.
“Many consumers remain ready to spend on drinking out, but for the millions of households feeling the pinch on spending, costs are front of mind at the moment. Businesses will have to provide top value for money and compelling reasons to step out of home over the summer season.”
