Manchester’s hospitality industry has bounced back to exceed pre-pandemic levels according to new figures. Data from customer experience consultancy have shown that Sales in the city’s pubs, restaurants and bars from the period of November 20, 2022, to January 1, 2023 surpassed those recorded during the same period in 2019 for the first time.
Manchester was ranked third in the UK of the top performing cities in the hospitality industry, behind Glasgow at the top and Birmingham in second place, though the figures do mean that Manchester dropped from first place last year.
By contrast, London was at the bottom of the UK’s top 10 cities for the same period last year, and was in 10th place last year too. Nearly 85,000 people are employed in hospitality in Greater Manchester,
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Sacha Lord, the night time economy adviser to the Mayor’s office, said: "Our hospitality industry is critical to the economic performance of the city-region, and I am pleased to see that Manchester is one of the strongest cities in its recovery post-Covid. This data shows that the city's hospitality sector continues to fight on, despite the ongoing difficulties that operators are facing.
"The Christmas season was particularly strong, driven by inbound tourism spurred by our fantastic nightlife and festive theatre offerings, as well as our Give The Gift of Going Out campaign was also hugely successful in encouraging spend across the sector, supporting operators not only in the city centre but as far afield as Bolton and Ramsbottom.
"We have to note however that although this data signals a strong rebound, real term growth in the sector remains difficult. We remain in limbo amid extortionate energy prices, rising business running costs and weakened consumer spending.
“With the right support, the sector would have easily exceeded these current results, and it remains vital that the industry is given that chance as we move forward.”
While sales may be improving in the post-pandemic period, the sector is still suffering heavily under the pressure of rocketing energy bills and increases in the price of raw materials, cleaning products and other expenses across the board.
Already this year, a number of well-known restaurants and bars have closed down, including student favourite The Font, Byron on Piccadilly Gardens, The Bridge and No 1 Canal Street, and Ate Days A Week.
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