Brits shun the pub in a bid to cut spending

The British public is cutting down on its spending in pubs and bars in response to the cost of living crisis, according to a recent survey from Deloitte.

The survey, shared in the Financial Times, asked 3,200 UK consumers about their leisure spending, and whether they were spending more, the same, or less.

The study found that between Q4 2023 and Q1 2024, the desire for “eating out” and “drinking in pubs and bars” has declined by about 6% among Brits.

This isn’t just the post-Christmas effect of shallower pockets either – year-on-year, the net percentage of consumers spending more on drinking in pubs and bars dropped fr0m -17.9% in Q1 2023 to -19.5% in Q1 2024. For dining out the decline was only minor, from -16.5% in Q1 2023 to -16.6% in Q1 2024.

This is a far cry from the post-pandemic peak of leisure spending in Q3 2021, when the net percentage for going out to drink was 3%, and for going out to eat was 12.2% – according to the Deloitte data, this was the last quarter when these percentages were positive.

The low point came with the arrival of the Covid-19 lockdowns in Q2 2020, when the forced closure of hospitality businesses caused these figures to come crashing down, with eating out at -75.7% and drinking in pubs and bars at -63.5%.

Deloitte consumer insight lead Céline Fenech said: “The cost of living crisis and the fact that things remain more expensive than they were a year or two years ago are impacting [consumer behaviours].”

“We are seeing signs of consumers easing their discretionary spending restrictions, but we are not seeing a splurge yet in leisure spending,” Fenech suggested. “There is no doubt that people are still trading off between spending on food at home and on going out.”

Even budget-friendly hospitality venues, such as Wetherspoons, are not necessarily “cheap” anymore, with a pint of lager in a London Spoons costing around the £7 mark.