Periods of bright weather helped Britain’s leading managed pub groups achieve 3.6% growth in like-for-like sales in March, the new CGA RSM Hospitality Business Tracker reveals.
As well as the sunshine, pubs benefited from March events, including Mother’s Day and St Patrick’s Day. It means that, for the fourth month in a row, they outperformed restaurants, which had a more challenging March with like-for-like sales slipping by 5.7%.
The timing of Easter is a mitigating factor in this comparison, as trading in March 2024 was inflated by the long holiday weekend, which fell instead in April this year.
The Tracker — produced by CGA by NIQ in partnership with RSM UK — shows managed groups’ like-for-like sales across all eating out and drinking out channels were down by 0.6% in March.
It completes a subdued first quarter of 2025 for operators, after a 1.3% year-on-year decline in sales in January and growth of just 0.1% in February, and suggests consumers remain cautious about their spending.
In other Tracker segments, bars’ sales were down by 9.2%, extending a long run of negative numbers, while the on-the-go channel achieved fractional growth of 0.1%.
Total sales across all channels — including at venues opened by groups in the last 12 months — were 1.8% ahead of March 2024. This is below the UK’s wider rate of inflation of 2.6% in March 2025, as measured by the consumer prices index.
Better weather in the south of England meant trading was slightly better in London than elsewhere in March. Groups’ sales inside the M25 were ahead by 1.1% year-on-year, but further afield they were 1.1% behind.
Cost concerns
Karl Chessell, director hospitality operators and food, EMEA at CGA by NIQ, said: “It’s clear that patchy consumer confidence is compromising spending in hospitality. However, a bright March for pubs suggests people are still going out in good numbers, especially when there are special occasions to celebrate, and the Easter weekend should make for more favourable comparisons in April.
“Nevertheless, with operators’ costs rising again this month and wider economic concerns mounting, the trading environment is likely to remain challenging throughout the second quarter.”
Saxon Moseley, head of leisure and hospitality at RSM UK, added: “Record-breaking spring sunshine gave pubs a welcome boost in March, a rare positive in an otherwise disappointing set of results for the hospitality industry, which remains in negative territory after the first quarter of 2025.
“This was the final month of trading before a significant uplift in employment and business tax costs and will have left many operators fearing the worst heading into April.
“Economic and geopolitical uncertainty will continue to weigh on consumer confidence and without intervention, we do expect an increase in site closures and insolvencies in the sector in the coming months.”
