September sales improve, but hospitality still trails inflation

Managed hospitality recorded September like-for-like sales growth of 2.7%, The Morning Advertiser reports from the NIQ RSM Hospitality Business Tracker. That is an improvement on August's 0.8%, but remains below inflation.

The channel split - Pubs: up 3.8% - Restaurants: up 2.6% - Bars: down 1.7%

Total sales, including recent openings, increased 6.2%. The sector has not achieved real-terms sales growth since spring 2025.

This is a managed-group benchmark, rather than a measure of every independent venue. Use it alongside your own guest counts and spending patterns.

What it means for operators: we would benchmark by channel before revising the estate forecast. Separate growth from new sites, performance at existing sites and price increases; a stronger sales headline does not establish that guest volumes or margins have recovered.