Hospitality sales up 3% on 2019 across major UK cities, Glasgow most vibrant

Hospitality businesses are starting to build sales momentum in Britain’s big cities after a steady return of workers, shoppers and visitors – with Glasgow the most vibrant – new research reveals.

The latest Top Cities report from CGA and Wireless Social combines sales and device log-in data to assess the performance of Britain’s ten most populous cities over the four weeks to 12 March 2022.

Across the cities, sales increased by 3% on the equivalent pre-pandemic period in 2019.

It marks a steady recovery from the previous four-week period, when sales were down by 3% on 2019, and from a challenging end to 2021.

Every city measured achieved better sales growth than in the mid-February Top Cities report.

Top place went to Glasgow, with sales in high single-digit growth from 2019 and check-in numbers increasing for the third period in a row.

Birmingham rose five places to second and Manchester was third after recording double-digit sales growth.

London is in last place on the list for the third successive period, but while trading and check-ins remain well below the levels of 2019, they did increase over the four weeks to 12 March.

CGA client director, Chris Jeffrey, said: “As consumers continue to head back to city centre offices, retail centres and attractions we can hope for further increases in sales and footfall. Appetite for pubs, bars and restaurants is clearly as strong as ever.”

Julian Ross, founder and chief executive of Wireless Social, added: “The return to positive, pre-covid sales figures is fantastic news for the sector, with city centres clearly on the way up. It is vitally important that this positive sales uptick continues.”