Hospitality suffers sales drop for January

By Hamish Graham

Published: 27 February, 2025

Figures from CGA by NIQ and RSM’s Hospitality Business Tracker reveal that year-on-year sales dropped by 1.3% in January 2025 compared to the same month last year. This represents only the tracker’s second recorded month of negative trading since early 2022.

It also marks an abrupt end to a strong period for the hospitality trade, following December 2024’s year-on-year growth of 3.2% for the hospitality trade.

A number of factors repressed sales during the first month of the year, including a squeeze on consumer spending after the festive period as well as widespread participation in Dry January. The month’s inclement weather did not help either, with storm Éowyn keeping people indoors over the last weekend of the month and reducing venues’ footfall.

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Karl Chessell, director of hospitality operators and food, EMEA at CGA by NIQ, sees the combined effects of a sales fall and incoming cost increases as a serious headache for hospitality.

“After a happy Christmas for hospitality groups and their suppliers, trading came back down to earth with a bump in January.

“It shows many consumers remain hesitant about their spending, and while inflation has eased in some areas, business costs remain very high across the sector. [So] energy price rises and the government’s planned changes to National Insurance thresholds and rates could hardly be coming at a worse time. Hospitality’s outlook is positive in the long run, but it deserves much better support than it is currently getting,” he commented.

Pubs were the best performing category during January with year-on-year sales down only 0.1%. Bars took the largest hit with sales dropping a concerning 10.2% compared to January 2024, while restaurants also saw a drop in sales of 1.1% for the month.

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