Britain’s leading pub, bar and restaurant groups finished a soft first half of trading with sales exactly level year-on-year in June, the latest CGA RSM Hospitality Business Tracker reveals.
It follows a drop of 1.0% in May, and means sales were static or negative in four of the first six months of 2025, with a warm April the only period to deliver real-terms growth.
June trading was affected by mixed weather and tough comparatives with the same month last year, when the Euro 2024 men’s football tournament was underway.
For the sixth month in a row, pubs achieved the best growth of the major segments of hospitality.
Managed pub groups’ like-for-like sales were 1.2% above June 2024, while restaurants saw trading slip fractionally by 0.5%. Bars continued a long run of negative numbers with a year-on-year dip of 5.7%, and the on-the-go segment slipped by 4.0%.
The Tracker—produced by CGA by NIQ in partnership with RSM UK—shows groups’ June sales within the M25 were down by 1.0% year-on-year, while sales further afield rose marginally by 0.4%. It means trading in London lagged the rest of the country for five of the first six months of 2025.
Groups’ total sales through all channels, including at venues opened by groups in the last 12 months, were 2.8% ahead of the same month in 2024—slightly below the UK’s rate of inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index.
Karl Chessell, director – hospitality operators and food, EMEA at CGA by NIQ, said, “June’s numbers round out a tough first half for hospitality groups.
They have had to deal with the dual challenges of fragile consumer confidence and a hike in labour costs from April, and with inflation ticking up again, the second half of 2025 may be just as challenging. Nevertheless, there are some encouraging pockets of growth—especially in pubs, where people seem to be spending with a little more confidence.
Operators will be hoping the rest of the Summer brings some brighter weather to help lift the sector back into growth.”
Saxon Moseley, head of leisure and hospitality at RSM UK, said, “June’s underwhelming results continue an unwelcome trend of subdued trading, with almost all segments of the market seeing negative like-for-like sales.
This damaging combination of declining sales and higher operating costs is leading an increasing number of well-known brands to either appoint restructuring advisers, close sites or shut the doors completely.
With labour costs already at breaking point, recent speculation of increased mandatory employer pension contributions could be the final nail in the coffin unless there is meaningful intervention from the Treasury in October to ease the burden on operators.”
