Following a strong month of leisure spend growth in April, the latest Greene King Leisure Spend Tracker reports British household leisure spending eased off in May to £192, down 11%.
Key Highlights
- In May, the average British household spent £192 on out of home leisure, a decline of £23, or 11%, against April and only £1 higher than in January.
- Following the school holidays and long Easter weekend, the average British household spent over £15 less on Eating Out in May compared with April (19% decrease) marking an end to three consecutive months of rising Eating Out spend and highlighting the importance of key calendar events.
- Drinking Out accounted for 23% of total leisure spend in May, the largest share this activity has represented since data collection began.
- Between April and May, households with kids cut their total leisure spend by more than twice of those without kids; spend falling from £39 and £18 respectively.
- In our focus on Live Sports Events, the data suggests GB households spent £2.7bn* attending live sport during the last six months.
Decline led by Eating Out
The report reveals the decline was led by Eating Out, which fell by 19% in May compared to April, a month that provided big dining opportunities such as Easter and the school holidays. Historical spend patterns show Eating Out spend is more closely linked to significant calendar events than either Drinking Out or Other Leisure.
While Drinking Out and Other Leisure also saw declines, they held up more robustly, with May the second highest spend per month on Drinking Out this year.
Tightened purse strings
Steve Jebson, Greene King’s commercial director said: “It is likely that people tightened the purse strings during May due to the combination of the strong spend in April linked to key calendar events, and being prudent when looking ahead to the summer holidays. We know that calendar events influence how much households spend on Eating Out, so it is down to leisure operators to create great reasons for consumers to get out and spend their money outside of these events.”
Spend on attending Live Sports Events
To tie in with the World Cup, this month Greene King has looked at what GB households spend attending Live Sport Events. Since December, households have spent £2.7 billion on this leisure pursuit. Steve explains: “The average British household is spending £17 per month on Live Sport Events, with London and the North East leading the way. Interestingly, households with kids have spent on average £8 a month more on Live Sport Events than those without kids, which shows going to watch live sport is a key family leisure activity. With a bumper sporting month ahead, it will be interesting to look at spending patterns for the World Cup and other key summer sporting events.”
*Figure calculated by Greene King based on ONS data at last census stating a count of 25.7m households with at least one usual resident within Great Britain.
Greene King Leisure Spend Tracker
- The Greene King Leisure Spend Tracker is part of an omnibus questionnaire run on behalf of Greene King by research partner YouGov and analysed in conjunction with Trajectory Partnership.
- The Greene King Leisure Spend Tracker is the first of its kind in Britain and aims to provide greater insights into consumer discretionary spending.
- Focuses on spending patterns across leisure sectors such as eating out, drinking out, gambling, cinema-going, health & fitness and live events.
- Each month’s report is based on an online, nationally representative sample of c. 2,000 individuals (GB, 18+), reflecting the leisure behaviour of c. 2,000 households. Data has been collected every month since August 2013.