Glasgow leads the way in Scotland as UK bar and restaurant sector booms

Data published in the first ever Market Growth Monitor from AlixPartners and CGA Peach, a property adviser and drinks analyst, showed Glasgow also led the way in Scotland with none of the other major cities north of the border registering in the UK top five.

Glasgow saw a net 25 new sites opened in the year to the end of June, the research showed, driven by high-profile launches by local operators, like the Anchor Line from the Di Maggio’s Restaurant Group in St Vincent Place, and by UK-wide companies such as Bill’s, Five Guys and Cote Brasserie.

The city’s 5.2 per cent increase was only outstripped by Leicester, Bristol, Birmingham and Leeds.

The study found that across the UK as a whole, the number of eating and drinking outlets grew by a net 1,770 over the period and that Glasgow, along with Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool and Leeds, features highly on the list of desired locations for operators looking to build nationwide chains, a demand boosted by the emergence of major music and events venue The SSE Hydro, which has had a particularly strong effect on the hospitality sector in the nearby Finnieston.

Stuart Patrick, chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said “There is no doubt visitor numbers to Glasgow are growing”

Mr Patrick put this down to a combination of factors, citing the Hydro, the growth in hotel occupancy and passenger numbers through Glasgow Airport, and last summer’s Commonwealth Games.

More generally, he noted “there had been a general shift in spend per head from just going into shops to spending more on the full-day experience, particularly eating out”.

“It will be the restaurants that will be seeing the majority of the benefit of that shift,” Mr Patrick said.

“Against that, we seen trends against certain types of drinking, and we have some comments from the licensed trade about the impact of harsher drink driving laws.”

The report highlighted the continuing growth of food-led outlets pubs across Scotland, England and Wales, and suggests that the number of licensed restaurants in Great Britain outstripped community pubs for the first time.

According to the research, the number of restaurant sites grew by 6.9 per cent as drink-led pubs and bars dropped by 4.4 per cent, including a 5.1 per cent fall in the number of community pubs.

There were 27,500 restaurants in the UK in the year to the end of June, compared with 26,700 community pubs, while the number of pubs and bars overall fell by 2.6 per cent to around 53,000.

The report suggests the figures point to a continuing shift in consumer preferences towards eating out occasions, a trend which took root after bans on smoking in public places were introduced in Scotland in 2006 and England the year after.

Branded food pubs grew by nine per cent, with the bulk of growth in restaurant numbers coming largely from the branded chain market.

And there was growth in the number of wine bars, café bars and food led-pubs, found the report, suggesting that the latter grew by 1.1 per cent over the period.

Paul Hemming, managing director of AlixPartners, said: “The reality of today’s eating out market is that, beyond the M25, there are more expansion opportunities for the leading branded operators, as shown by the presence of cities such as Leicester, York and Sheffield in the top 10 growth towns.

“It is clear that the desire for quality food and bar offerings has spread around the country.”