RTD sales near £200m in Britain’s on-trade
The ready-to-drink (RTD) category saw its value rise by 2.6% in Britain’s on-trade in the 12 months to late 2025, according to NIQ data.
New research from NIQ’s On Premise Measurement (OPM) tool revealed that the value of RTDs in Britain’s on-trade reached nearly £200 million (US$265m).
NIQ noted that the segment comfortably outperformed the total beverage alcohol market, despite a drop of 4.5% in distribution.
The average rate of sale for RTDs increased by 7.4% in the 12 months to late 2025.
However, Britain remains an underdeveloped market for RTDs when compared to countries like Australia.
In Australia, more than half of consumers buy RTDs and the category’s sales represent 14% of the long alcoholic drinks (LAD) and spirits segments.
NIQ believes that RTDs are ‘under-leveraged, poorly positioned or rarely listed’ in Britain’s hospitality sector, with the category viewed as an off-trade product.
As such, RTDs represent just 0.9% of LAD and spirits spending in the nation’s bars, pubs and restaurants. If that share rose to 3.5%, this would only represent a quarter of Australia’s figure, but would mean an extra £645m (US$853.8m) in sales.
In terms of the demographic, younger Brits tend to favour RTDs. NIQ’s BrandTrack data points to 69% of adults aged 18 to 34 as RTD consumers.
Furthermore, data from NIQ’s On-Premise User Survey revealed a third (32%) of premium brand consumers are drinking RTDs more often than they were a year ago.
In terms of the type of outlet, high-street pubs and large sites were among the best-performing venues for RTDs in 2025, mainly due to their affordable pricing.
Meanwhile, the proportion of people drinking RTDs at lunchtime and mid-afternoon has risen by two percentage points over the past year. RTDs also tend to see a spike during the summer.
Format-wise, glass bottles dominate the RTD category, while draught remains a small proportion of sales with distribution falling to around 4,300 outlets in 2025.
But NIQ also points out that draught now delivers the strongest spend per outlet than the RTD category as a whole, with a rate-of-sale growth of 48.5%.
“With RTDs reaching more and more consumers, there is ample room for brands to dramatically grow on-premise sales over the summer and beyond,” said Rachel Weller, commercial lead UK and Ireland at NIQ.
“Given their strong returns, these products aren’t yet getting the distribution they deserve, and suppliers will have to make compelling cases for stocking. Strategies also need to pinpoint exactly where and when the best opportunities lie, and meet the needs of buyers.”
Is the RTD category an opportunity, a necessity, or a threat to gin? Industry figures recently shared their views on the category’s evolution and future prospects during the Ginposium conference this month.
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