Drinking beer and eating snacks

The World Cup helped to drive an off-trade beer boom in 2014

Brits are now buying more beer in supermarkets and off-licenses than in pubs.

Off-trade volume sales of beer have topped on-trade sales over a full calendar year for the first time on record, according to data released today (30 January) by the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA).

In 2014, shoppers bought the equivalent of 13.78 million barrels of beer versus the 13.66 million barrels downed in pubs, clubs and restaurants. Off-trade sales had risen 3.5% year-on-year according the BBPA data, while on-trade sales had dropped 0.8%.

Supermarket beer volumes had benefitted from deep discounting around the World Cup and the Christmas period.  In June, eight of Britain’s 10 biggest beer and cider brands were cheaper in the run-up to the 2014 tournament than at the start of the 2010 cup.

In December, one senior buyer suggested the World Cup had “set the bar” for pricing for the rest of the year, adding retailers had run three-for-£20 or slabs of beer for £10 for a “significant” number of weeks. While such deals had driven volume sales, The Grocer Top Products Survey (23 December 2014) revealed this had been at the expense of a value.

The off-trade boom also means total UK beer volumes are up year-on-year across a full calendar year for the first time since 2004.

This “startling turn around” followed two cuts in beer duty, said the BBPA.

“British beer is back in growth – and we want to keep it that way,” added BBPA chief executive Brigid Simmonds. “That is why another duty cut from the Chancellor is vital. It will build on the success of two very popular tax cuts in the past two years, and boost jobs in an industry that employs 900,000 people, almost half of whom are 16 to 24-year-olds.”

Total beer sales (moving annual total 000’s barrels)

 Q1Q2Q3Q4
  Volume % change Volume % change Volume % change Volume % change
2000 35,464 -0.6% 35,503 1.5% 35,052 -1.0% 34,572 -3.5%
2001 34,531 -2.6% 34,432 -3.0% 34,473 -1.7% 34,627 0.2%
2002 34,953 1.2% 35,287 2.5% 35,201 2.1% 35,141 1.5%
2003 35,052 0.0% 35,033 0.0% 35,483 0.0% 35,500 1.0%
2004 35,771 2.0% 35,969 2.7% 35,495 0.0% 35,641 0.4%
2005 35,413 -1.0% 35,015 -2.7% 35,215 -0.8% 34,902 -2.1%
2006 34,778 -1.8% 35,191 0.5% 34,596 -1.8% 34,448 -1.3%
2007 34,265 -1.5% 33,600 -4.5% 33,558 -3.0% 33,155 -3.8%
2008 33,144 -3.3% 32,790 -2.4% 32,213 -4.0% 31,482 -5.0%
2009 30,961 -6.6% 30,543 -6.9% 30,503 -5.3% 30,214 -4.0%
2010 29,927 -3.3% 30,225 -1.0% 29,514 -3.2% 29,150 -3.5%
2011 29,003 -3.1% 28,272 -6.5% 28,492 -3.5% 28,477 -2.3%
2012 28,430 -2.0% 28,031 -0.9% 27,618 -3.1% 27,131 -4.7%
2013 26,970 -5.1% 26,627 -5.0% 26,997 -2.3% 27,098 -0.1%
2014 26,994 0.1% 27,639 3.8% 27,368 1.4% 27,444 1.3%

Off-trade beer sales (moving annual total 000’s barrels)

 Q1Q2Q3Q4
  Volume % change Volume % change Volume % change Volume % change
2000 11,183 5.3% 11,484 12.9% 11,381 6.9% 11,215 -0.9%
2001 11,397 1.9% 11,471 -0.1% 11,679 2.6% 11,864 5.8%
2002 12,143 6.5% 12,562 9.5% 12,649 8.3% 12,808 8.0%
2003 12,888 0.0% 13,020 0.0% 13,502 0.0% 13,610 6.3%
2004 13,949 8.2% 14,174 8.9% 13,874 2.8% 14,128 3.8%
2005 14,032 0.6% 13,951 -1.6% 14,279 2.9% 14,173 0.3%
2006 14,278 1.8% 14,725 5.6% 14,451 1.2% 14,506 2.4%
2007 14,496 1.5% 14,177 -3.7% 14,391 -0.4% 14,418 -0.6%
2008 14,755 1.8% 14,915 5.2% 14,707 2.2% 14,434 0.1%
2009 14,143 -4.2% 13,909 -6.7% 14,052 -4.5% 13,958 -3.3%
2010 13,976 -1.2% 14,512 4.3% 14,084 0.2% 14,015 0.4%
2011 13,928 -0.3% 13,293 -8.4% 13,598 -3.5% 13,552 -3.3%
2012 13,647 -2.0% 13,412 0.9% 13,172 -3.1% 12,870 -5.0%
2013 12,881 -5.6% 12,765 -4.8% 13,173 0.0% 13,323 3.5%
2014 13,301 3.3% 13,857 8.6% 13,645 3.6% 13,784 3.5%

On-trade beer sales (moving annual total 000’s barrels)

 Q1Q2Q3Q4
  Volume % change Volume % change Volume % change Volume % change
2000 24,281 -3.1% 24,018 -3.2% 23,671 -4.4% 23,358 -4.7%
2001 23,134 -4.7% 22,961 -4.4% 22,794 -3.7% 22,763 -2.5%
2002 22,811 -1.4% 22,725 -1.0% 22,552 -1.1% 22,333 -1.9%
2003 22,165 0.0% 22,013 0.0% 21,981 0.0% 21,890 -2.0%
2004 21,821 -1.5% 21,796 -1.0% 21,621 -1.6% 21,513 -1.7%
2005 21,381 -2.0% 21,064 -3.4% 20,935 -3.2% 20,729 -3.6%
2006 20,499 -4.1% 20,466 -2.8% 20,145 -3.8% 19,942 -3.8%
2007 19,770 -3.6% 19,423 -5.1% 19,166 -4.9% 18,737 -6.0%
2008 18,389 -7.0% 17,876 -8.0% 17,506 -8.7% 17,048 -9.0%
2009 16,818 -8.5% 16,634 -6.9% 16,451 -6.0% 16,256 -4.6%
2010 15,951 -5.2% 15,714 -5.5% 15,430 -6.2% 15,135 -6.9%
2011 15,075 -5.5% 14,980 -4.7% 14,894 -3.5% 14,925 -1.4%
2012 14,782 -1.9% 14,619 -2.4% 14,446 -3.0% 14,261 -4.5%
2013 14,089 -4.7% 13,862 -5.2% 13,824 -4.3% 13,775 -3.4%
2014 13,693 -2.8% 13,781 -0.6% 13,723 -0.7% 13,660 -0.8%