Brits toast Olympics with 15m more pints

Sales of wine, beer and cider were given a welcome boost in August with the effects of a heatwave and Olympic celebrations balancing what was described by Nielsen analysts as an otherwise “torrid year” for retailers.

The four-week period ending 13 August saw overall beer and cider volumes rise by 4.7%, Champagne by 4.9% and sparkling wine by 13.9%

The four-week period ending 13 August saw overall beer and cider volumes rise by 4.7% compared to the same period in 2015, while value sales increased by 6.9% to £27 million, equating to an additional 15 million pints.

Ale also performed strongly with volumes increasing by 4.2%, just behind lager which which increased its volumes by 4.3%. Cider proved to be one of the biggest growers, climbing 6.2% in volume and 8.4% in value.

Within wine, Champagne saw sales rise by 4.9% by value, while sparkling wine continued its double-digit growth with values rising by 13.9% compared to the same period last year.

Sales of spirits and light wine were said to have “suffered”, however the extent of either category’s decline during the four-week period was not confirmed by Nielsen.

“With the recent good spell of weather set to continue into next weekend, consumer confidence flat and the country’s mood boosted by Team GB’s success in Rio: the summer certainly isn’t over and these sales could rise even further”, said Jon Sheppard, Nielsen’s client business partner.

“This would be a welcome boost, after an early summer tainted by a rainy June and England’s early departure from Euro 2016.”

Overall, the four week period contributed £2.8 million more than the four weeks leading up to the Euro Football Championships.

“In fact, this was the strongest four weeks sales rise in the summer (that wasn’t football related) since the now fabled heatwave of July 2013 when volume sales rose by 27%”, added Sheppard.