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- Introduction
Mitchells & Butlers has enjoyed strong sales since its pubs and restaurants reopened from 12 April onwards. The company, which owns Harvester, Toby Carvery and All Bar One, said in the first five weeks of reopening indoors and outdoors (from 17 May), like-for-like sales were at 98% of pre-pandemic levels, though this slowed to 89% of pre-Covid levels in the following five weeks.
There are some signs that things have improved again after restrictions were eased further on 19 July, the company said. The Euro 2020 football tournament provided a boost, but that aside suburban locations and food-led outlets have performed best while city centre pubs are not doing so well. This not surprising, as many people are still working from home and not commuting to city centres as much as before.
The London-listed spirits maker Diageo toasted better-than-expected sales for the past year thanks to strong tequila and whisky sales. North America led the way; as bars and restaurants reopened, customers treated themselves to tequila, liqueurs and Johnnie Walker whisky.
Diageo said demand rose despite its decision to raise prices on its Casamigos tequila brand and Baileys liqueur, which was driven by the trend for home baking during Covid-19 lockdowns. Turkey and Northern Europe also saw strong demand for scotch whisky in shops.