Hospitality supports post-Covid cities, but inflation threatens recovery

Britain's hospitality industry is powering the economic recovery of major cities following the Covid-19 pandemic – but progress is threatened by rising costs, rail strikes and other factors. 

This insight is drawn from data from the latest 'Top Cities' report by CGA by NielsenIQ and Wireless Social. It combines CGA's sales data with device login information from Wireless Social, using a managed volume pool of more than 8,000 venues to provide a 'vibrancy' ranking of Britain's 10 most populous cities over the four weeks to September 2022. 

Birmingham tops the report's list of most vibrant cities for a second successive period, ahead of Glasgow, while Manchester climbs two places to third. London is bottom of the rankings for the second time in a row, with both sales and footfall still short of the pre-Covid levels of 2019.

Britain's 10 biggest cities, ranked by vibrancy
Rankings for the four weeks to 24 September 2022. Numbers in brackets indicate position for the previous four-week period

1. Birmingham (1)
2. Glasgow (2)
3. Manchester (5=)
4. Bristol (5)
5. Leicester (3)
6. Edinburgh (7)
7. Liverpool (4)
8. Sheffield (8)
9. Leeds (9)
10. London (10)

London was one of only three cities recording sales below the same period in 2019 – an improvement from four and five in the previous two reports. Footfall in the 10 cities has also marginally improved over the last few months. However, high levels of inflation mean average sales are significantly down in real terms, and city-centre footfall remails well below pre-pandemic comparatives. 

CGA client director Chris Jeffrey comments: "Restaurants, pubs and bars have been hugely impressive in pulling sales ahead of their pre-Covid levels, and they are instrumental in attracting people back to Britain's big cities. But this recovery is at risk of stagnation from the soaring costs in energy, food, property and other key areas for businesses and consumers alike.

"Rail strikes are another major threat to city-centre spending at the moment, and ongoing labour shortages and supply chain issues are adding to the headwinds. Hospitality can power the economic growth the government is seeking, but only if it receives sustained support to get through the current storm."

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