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Number of UK cocktail bars up 17.4%
Despite a fall of 2.8% in the number of sites in the UK’s late-night economy, there were 17.4% more cocktail bars in 2024 than in 2023, according to a new report.
The Night Time Economy Market Monitor was created by the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) and CGA by NIQ.
It estimated that the UK’s night-time economy (NTE) was worth £153.91 billion (US$190.58bn) in 2024, a 2.5% growth on 2023.
The report included surveys of NTIA members and data from CGA by NIQ’s trackers.
The report divides consumer spending into four sectors: the night-time economy, the night-time cultural economy, the day-time economy and the out-of-home culture and leisure economy.
The night-time cultural economy – which includes live music, late-night venues, and cultural spaces – has shown the strongest growth of 3.2%, valued at £42.71bn (US$52.91bn) and outpacing the total market rate of 2.3%.
Growth across all sectors has slowed since 2023, with gross value added (GVA) insights indicating stagnation across the leisure and night-time economy subsectors in 2023. The NTIA said this is due to rising business costs significantly impacting profitability.
Employment in the NTE showed slight overall growth in 2023, however there were sharp declines in licensed club employment (down by 22.8% to 68,200) and pub and bar employment (down by 12.2% to 474,300) in 2023.
Money talks
The report also included figures from CGA by NIQ’s market measurement service, which calculated that total drinks sales in Britain’s on-trade totalled £31.2bn (US$38.6bn) in 2024, down by 0.6% year on year.
Bars generated £1.6bn (US$2bn), up by 2.4% on 2023, while bar restaurants totalled £1.4bn (US$1.7bn), a fall of 1.7%.
The nightclub sector struggled, with drinks sales down by 22.9% to £363 million (US$449.7m).
The CGA and RSM Hospitality Business Tracker, which measures monthly sales at Britain’s leading restaurant, pub and bar groups, shows total food and drink sales grew by 3.2% in 2024, roughly in line with inflation.
The bar segment of the tracker fared less well, growing by 1.3%, while experiential venues soared by 5.3%.
There were 2,264 sites in the UK late-night economy in 2024, a 2.8% fall on December 2023. However sites in the evening economy grew by 3.9% to 16,004.
The outlook for bars in particular was more promising, with late-night bars the only subsector to decline (down 3.2%).
Cocktail bars grew by 17.4% year on year, with themed bars up by 24.4% and craft bars by 14.3%.
Changing consumer behaviours
As part of the report, CGA by NIQ surveyed NTIA members to discover the reality behind the numbers.
More than half of those surveyed said they had observed year-on-year drops in night-time activities, with 62% saying the number of bar crawls had fallen and 54% noting the same for hen and stag parties.
Student trade was also reported to have dropped by 56% of respondents.
Respondents also reported decreased spend, with many noting a decrease in footfall (72%), number of drinks bought (73%) and average spend per visit (74%).
The survey also addressed consumers, with 62% of those who go out for high-tempo occasions saying they are looking for “new types” of these occasions, and 63% specified they were looking for new experiences like music and gaming.
These responses were more common among Gen Z consumers.
There was increased interest in experience-led venues, with 33% saying they are visiting more of these sites for high-tempo occasions than they were a year ago.
Another 33% said they were visiting street food venues and food halls more.
On the other hand, while 23% say they are making more visits to late-night bars, 30% said they are visiting less often.
Respondents also noted a shift to going out earlier for all high-tempo nights out.
Less than a quarter of NTIA members reported revenue growth in any night-time trading hours, with 70% reporting falling revenue post-1am. Only 47% reported a fall between 6pm and 8pm.
Yesterday, we reported data from ride-hailing app Bolt that revealed 31% of Londoners are going out at night less.
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