England World Cup games give Marston's pubs a massive sales boost
The Wolverhampton-based Marston's pubs group has been given a World Cup sales bonus.
It says that for the two England World Cup games which have taken place to date against Iran and the United States, total like-for-like sales on those days were up around 30 per cent compared to 2021.
Drink sales improved around 50 per cent and food sales were better than anticipated, being up about one per cent.
Marston's now operates an estate of 1,468 managed, franchised and leased pubs across the country and employs around 12,000 people.
It has also revealed that overall trading since the end of its financial year on October 2 has been encouraging. Like-for-like sales in its managed and franchised pubs are up 6.8 per cent on the same period last year and five per cent up on the pre-pandemic period in 2019. October earnings were in line with the group's expectations.
Marston's also says bookings for Christmas Day and Christmas fayre are encouraging and are building in momentum.
Total bookings for the Christmas period are currently higher than in 2019 and in line with its plans, albeit walk-in trade typically accounts for a significant proportion of overall sales over the Christmas trading period.
