Restaurant sales revive but pubs soften in steady August for hospitality

Britain’s hospitality sector finished a solid summer with a fourth straight month of growth in August, the new NIQ RSM Hospitality Business Tracker reveals.

Like-for-like sales at leading managed groups were 0.8% above the levels of August 2025 according to the Tracker, which is produced by NIQ, powered by CGA intelligence, in association with RSM. It is the Tracker’s third best monthly result of 2026 so far.

However, August’s figure is also a slight cooling from growth of 1.4% in July, when hospitality was boosted by the football World Cup. It is also below the country’s recent level of inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index. Hospitality has not achieved real-terms monthly growth for 16 consecutive months.

Restaurants were comfortably the strongest channel of hospitality in August, securing year-on-year growth of2.4%. It was restaurant groups’ second strongest month since the start of 2025, as some consumers returned to eating out after focusing on pub visits during the World Cup.

The end of the tournament made August tougher for pub groups, as their sales finished only0.5%ahead of the same month last year. Excessive heat in many parts of Britain may also have kept some drinkers away from pubs. Bar groups saw sales slip by2.5%year-on-year, and the on-the-go sector finished5.5%behind.

Whilelike-for-likegrowth has been modest in 2026, results have been significantly stronger on atotalsales basis. Adding in venues that were launched in the previous 12 months, the NIQ RSM Hospitality Business Tracker shows sales rose by4.1%year-on-year in August.

For hospitality as a whole, trading was fractionally weaker in London than in the rest of the country in August. Groups’ like-for-like sales rose by0.6%within the M25, and by0.8%further afield.

Karl Chessell, Director - Hospitality Operators and Food, EMEA at NIQ, said: “It’s been a stable if unspectacular summer for Britain’s hospitality sector. August was a particularly encouraging month for restaurants, who drew back guests after a long run of weak growth and struggles for footfall during the World Cup, but it was a more challenging one for drink-led pubs and bars. Healthy growth on a total sales basis indicates that operators and investors remain optimistic enough about the long-term future of hospitality to open new venues. However, underlying growth remains extremely difficult. Hospitality will be hoping that consumers feel able to loosen their spending in the run-in to Christmas, and also looking to the government for support around VAT to help drive this demand.”

Saxon Moseley, Head of Leisure and Hospitality at RSM UK, said: “August’s moderate growth reflects a gradual improvement in consumer confidence, giving discretionary spending a boost. However, while any uptick is welcome, growth remains subdued and highly vulnerable to the unintended consequences of shifting Government policy. The recently announced tourist tax threatens to actively stifle consumer behaviour, arriving precisely when the hospitality sector urgently needs the Treasury to stimulate demand and alleviate an already crippling tax burden, rather than adding to it. All eyes will be on next month's budget to provide clarity and certainty as we approach the all-important festive trading period.”