Report: January 2015
Released: February 2015
February 2015
GB LEISURE IN JANUARY 2015 - COMMENT
Eating Out has continued to experience strong growth and the
While economic news continues to be positive - see the
13% rise in spend this month could be, in part, a result of a fall
recently announced employment figures - the latest Leisure
in petrol prices and inflation reaching record lows, giving Brits
Tracker data reveals that many consumers are yet to feel the
more to spend on their favourite leisure activity. Drinking Out
impact in their own wallets. Encouragingly, economic
was slightly down in January, but it was Other Leisure that
forecasts suggest 2015 will be the year that cost of living
found it tough, bringing down the total figure for the month.
pressures start to ease, with the fall in petrol prices the first
Britain’s youth have struggled in recent years but this month’s
evidence of this. If wage rises counterpart falling inflation,
report suggests the worst is now behind them. Our survey
drinking out and wider leisure spend may enjoy the same
found that 18-24 year olds expect to spend more on Eating Out,
strong growth as eating out, which has enjoyed an excellent
Drinking Out and big ticket items this year than in 2014, a sign
start to the year.
that Britain’s youth may now be more confident about their job
security, wages and better prospects in 2015.
Fiona Gunn
Paul Flatters
Marketing Director
Chief Executive
Greene King
Trajectory
February 2015
HEADLINES
TOTAL LEISURE
• In January, the average British household spent
£183 on out of home leisure, down £8 (4%)
year-on-year and down £27 (13%) month-on-
Average Household Spend in January
£183.11
month.
4% decrease year-on-year
• A fall in year-on-year household spending on
out of home leisure reflects the ongoing fragility
of consumer confidence despite falls in utility
and fuel prices continuing to keep inflation
down.
• Despite a decline in total leisure spending yearon-year, Eating Out saw growth in spending of
13% decrease vs. December
EATING OUT
DRINKING OUT
OTHER LEISURE
Average Household
Spend in January
Average Household
Spend in January
Average Household
Spend in January
13% increase yearon-year
1% decrease year-onyear
19% decrease yearon-year
12% decrease vs. Dec
21% decrease vs. Dec
9% decrease vs. Dec
13%, showing that despite households cutting
back in other areas of leisure, they continue to
carve out enough money to fund their favourite
leisure pastime.
February 2015
TOTAL LEISURE SPEND
GB HOUSEHOLD AVERAGE EATING OUT, DRINKING OUT AND
OTHER LEISURE SPEND BY MONTH
• Pressure on overall leisure spend suggests
households could be starting to increase spend
on big ticket items now that low levels of
inflation are helping real income levels recover.
• Eating Out grew year-on year for the sixth
consecutive month in January. Spend on
Drinking Out, although down year-on-year,
proved resilient, falling less than £1, despite
societal pressure on New Years drinking habits.
• Year-on-year, spend on Other Leisure remained
weak in January, down £16 (19%). Interestingly,
despite the relatively softer impact of the
recession on older age groups, this fall in spend
was disproportionately driven by households
where the respondent was over 45 years old.
This suggests a decline in spend is more
reflective of a change in preferences than the
result of financial pressures.
DRINKINGOUT
OUT
DRINKING
EATINGOUT
OUT
EATING
OTHERLEISURE
LEISURE
OTHER
February 2015
GB HOUSEHOLD AVERAGE TOTAL LEISURE SPEND MIX BY MONTH
TOTAL LEISURE SPEND MIX
• Flat year-on-year Drinking Out spend in the
context of a fall in total leisure spend meant this
activity accounted for a 1% greater share of total
leisure spend in January compared to the same
time in the prior year, moving from 20% to
21%.
• In January, Eating Out accounted for 41% of
the average household’s monthly leisure spend,
the highest share since September last year, and
a continued reflection of the growth of this
leisure activity at the expense of others within
the household repertoire.
• The share of total leisure spending accounted
for by Other Leisure activities fell 6% year-onyear from 45% to 39% in January.
DRINKING OUT
DRINKING OUT
EATING OUT
EATING OUT
OTHER LEISURE
OTHER LEISURE
February 2015
TOTAL LEISURE OVER TIME: JAN 15 vs. JAN 14 & JAN 15 vs. DEC 14
TOTAL LEISURE OVER TIME
TOTAL LEISURE SPEND OVER TIME: REGIONAL OVERVIEW
• Year-on-year declines in spend highlight a
slightly more conservative outlook among
households despite improving economic
conditions. The lasting psychological impact of
the recession means households will continue to
be critical when judging ‘value’ for money.
• While households in London and the South East
saw spend on out of home leisure fall £36 (15%)
year-on-year in January, households elsewhere in
Britain saw spend increase modestly by £4 (3%).
TOTAL LEISURE SPEND OVER TIME: KIDS / NO KIDS OVERVIEW
The prospect of house price growth slowing in the
capital may be continuing to compress
confidence. Whether this differential in leisure
spending between the two areas is an indicator
that there will be continued convergence in
leisure spending remains to be seen.
JAN 2014
JAN 2015
DEC 2014
February 2015
TOTAL LEISURE OVER TIME: JAN 15 vs. JAN 14 & JAN 15 vs. DEC 14
EATING OUT OVER TIME
EATING OUT SPEND OVER TIME: REGIONAL OVERVIEW
• Eating Out was the only activity to see year-onyear growth in January, increasing £9 (13%).
Relatively stronger year-on-year performance of
Eating Out relative to Drinking Out suggests
that food-led establishments, such as
restaurants, performed more strongly than
those in which drink represents a more
significant component of the sales mix.
• Households in London and the South East
increased their spend on Eating Out by £5 (6%)
EATING OUT SPEND OVER TIME: KIDS / NO KIDS OVERVIEW
year-on-year, while households elsewhere in
Britain saw a considerably greater increase in
spend of £10 (17%) over the same period.
• Households with and without kids saw spend on
Eating Out increase on a year-on-year basis.
This, in line with the increases seen in both
areas of Britain referenced above, shows how
broad based the growing appeal of this activity
has been recently.
JAN 2014
JAN 2015
DEC 2014
February 2015
TOTAL LEISURE OVER TIME: JAN 15 vs. JAN 14 & JAN 15 vs. DEC 14
DRINKING OUT OVER TIME
DRINKING OUT SPEND OVER TIME: REGIONAL OVERVIEW
• Year-on-year, spend on Drinking Out fell just 1% in
January. Not surprisingly, month-on-month spend
on Drinking Out fell considerably among all
household types as January saw the end of
Christmas and New Year celebrations.
• A small drop of £2 (5%) in year-on-year household
spend on Drinking Out among households in
London and the South East was offset by slight
growth £1 (2%) in spend among households in the
rest of Britain.
DRINKING OUT SPEND OVER TIME: KIDS / NO KIDS OVERVIEW
• Family households saw spend on Drinking Out
increase by £3 (8%) year-on-year, while
households without children reduced their spend
on this activity by £1 (3%).
JAN 2014
JAN 2015
DEC 2014
February 2015
TOTAL LEISURE OVER TIME: JAN 15 vs. JAN 14 & JAN 15 vs. DEC 14
OTHER LEISURE SPEND
OVER TIME
OTHER LEISURE SPEND OVER TIME: REGIONAL OVERVIEW
• Year-on-year, spend on Other Leisure activities
fell by £16 (19%) in January. Spending on Other
Leisure activities such as bowling and admissions
to museums and art galleries were among the
categories that saw the most substantial year-onyear declines in spend in January.
• Households in London and the South East saw
spend on Other Leisure fall considerably on a
year-on-year basis in January, spend falling £39
OTHER LEISURE SPEND OVER TIME: KIDS / NO KIDS OVERVIEW
(32%). Households elsewhere in Britain also saw
spend on Other Leisure fall although the decline
was far softer at £7 (9%).
• Households without kids were responsible for the
entirety of the year-on-year decline in spend on
Other Leisure, cutting spend by £27 (32%). In
contrast, family households increased spend by
£14 (15%), however this increase did little do
offset the decline seen at GB level.
JAN 2014
JAN 2015
DEC 2014
February 2015
OTHER LEISURE SPEND BREAKDOWN
GB HOUSEHOLD AVERAGE MONTHLY OTHER LEISURE SPEND:
NOVEMBER, DECEMBER AND JANUARY
• Falls in spend among Other Leisure activities
were most marked in gambling, bowling and
attendance of live sport events in the three
months to January 2015 compared to the same
period a year prior.
• More sustained spend on other live events
than sports events in the three months to
January against the same period last year
meant that spend on these events overtook
that on live sports events.
• Spend on all Other Leisure activities in the
three months to January was largely
consistent with spending in the three months
THEATRE / CINEMA
MUSEUMS, ART GALLERIES
& OTHER ATTRACTIONS
BOWLING
LIVE SPORTS EVENTS
GAMBLING AT A
CASINO & OTHER
GAMING FOR
MONEY
GYM MEMBERSHIP
to December due to similar spending in
January across the majority of activities as
seen in October of last year.
OTHER LIVE EVENTS
February 2015
ALL LEISURE – MIX OVER TIME BY GROUP
• Year-on-year, Eating Out accounted for a greater share of total leisure spend across all household types, further establishing Eating
Out as Britain’s favourite leisure activity. Conversely, Other Leisure activities accounted for a smaller share of total leisure spend
across all household types in January.
• Year-on-year, with the exception of family households, Drinking Out accounted for a greater share of total leisure spend across all
household types in January, despite a slight fall in spend in nominal terms among some types of household.
DRINKING OUT
EATING OUT
OTHER LEISURE
February 2015
BEHAVIOUR IN THE NEW YEAR
February 2015
BEHAVIOURS IN THE NEW YEAR
• Over a third (36%) of British adults claim they
intend to eat more healthily during 2015, among
25-34 year olds this figure climbs to 45%. Among
over 55’s the figure falls to 30%.
• Despite a growing interest in ‘craft’ beer, there
appears to be little appetite among the majority
of British adults to try new alcoholic drinks. Only
among 18-24 year olds did more than one in 10
expect to be more adventurous in this domain.
However, there was a greater, but still modest,
appetite for trying new foods with just over one in
seven British adults intending to do so in the new
year.
• Interestingly, 18-24 year olds were the least likely
of any age group to say they intended to cut their
alcohol consumption, yet those in the 25-34 age
bracket were the most likely of any group to claim
they were pursuing this goal.
February 2015
18-24 YEAR OLDS MOST OPTIMISTIC ABOUT
EATING OUT SPEND IN 2015
IN TOTAL, DO YOU EXPECT THAT YOU WILL SPEND MORE ON LESS
MONEY ON EACH OF THE FOLLOWING IN 2015 COMPARED TO 2014, OR
DO YOU THINK YOU WILL SPEND ABOUT THE SAME AMOUNT? (EATING
OUT)
• Among respondents of all age groups and from all
types of households, the majority expected that
they would maintain 2014 levels of Eating Out
spend through into 2015.
• 18-24 year olds were the most confident about
increasing their spend on Eating Out in 2015 and
were the only group among which a greater
number of people expected to spend more on this
activity than less over the coming year.
• Interestingly, in contrast to the trend towards
Eating Out spend growth among family
households, almost a quarter of those living in
family households expect to spend less on this
activity in 2015 compared to 2014, while only 17%
expect to spend more. Among non-family
households, this disparity was considerably less,
18% expecting to spend less against 16%
expecting to spend more.
MORE
SAME
LESS
February 2015
MAJORITY OF BRITS INTEND TO MAINTAIN
DRINKING OUT SPEND INTO 2015
IN TOTAL, DO YOU EXPECT THAT YOU WILL SPEND MORE ON LESS
MONEY ON EACH OF THE FOLLOWING IN 2015 COMPARED TO 2014, OR
DO YOU THINK YOU WILL SPEND ABOUT THE SAME AMOUNT? (DRINKING
OUT)
• Two thirds of Brits intend to spend the same
amount on Drinking Out as they had in 2014.
However, twice as many expect to reduce spend
(22%) as the number expecting to increase it
(11%).
• Similar to the projections made by 18-24 year
olds around Eating Out, this was the only age
group to project increased spend on Drinking Out
in 2015. The optimism of this age group is
somewhat surprising given the weakness in the
youth unemployment market.
• Expectations around spend on Drinking Out in
2015 among both those living in London/South
East and those elsewhere in Britain paralleled
what was seen at total GB level.
MORE
SAME
LESS
February 2015
MORE BRITS EXPECT TO CHANGE LEVEL OF
SPEND ON BIG TICKET ITEMS THAN MAINTAIN IT
DURING 2015
IN TOTAL, DO YOU EXPECT THAT YOU WILL SPEND MORE ON LESS
MONEY ON EACH OF THE FOLLOWING IN 2015 COMPARED TO 2014, OR
DO YOU THINK YOU WILL SPEND ABOUT THE SAME AMOUNT? (BIG
TICKET ITEMS)
• Respondents from all household types and age
groups (except 18-24 year olds) saw more than
half of respondents projecting their expenditure
on big ticket items would be different from the
levels seen in 2014.
• Generally, a greater number of British adults
expected to spend less in 2o15 than they had
during 2014, and this was consistent for Eating
Out, Drinking Out and big ticket items. Future
growth in leisure spending overall may act to
mask a dynamic of increasing polarisation of
spend, with a small group representing a greater
share of total spending while the truly ‘average’
household continues to struggle.
MORE
SAME
LESS
*Big ticket items are categorised as those with a price of above £250
February 2015
THE NEXT LEISURE SPEND TRACKER WILL BE RELEASED ON
Wednesday 25th March 2015
February 2015
METHODOLOGY
• 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.
• Respondents report on their household’s leisure behaviour over the previous week (e.g. spend, visit frequency etc.), with respect to
the leisure activities set out below:
Eating
Drinking
Out
Out
Gambling
Live Sports
Other Live
Gym
Museums, Art
Theatre and
Events
Events
Membership
Galleries and
Cinema
Bowling
Other Attractions
• The Leisure Spend Tracker is run four times in each calendar month, always going into field on a Monday. This data is then used to
generate a picture of household leisure activity in Great Britain over a 28 day period in each calendar month.
• Each month’s report is based on an online, nationally representative sample of c. 4,000 individuals (GB, 18+), reflecting the leisure
behaviour of c. 4,000 households. Data has been collected every month since August 2013.
• A wealth of demographic data is held against each respondent ,which allows for more fine-grained analysis of households with
particular characteristics.
February 2015
CONTACT
For media enquiries please contact:
Philip Walters
RLMFinsbury
Tel: +44 (0) 20 72513801
General enquiries:
Email: leisuretracker@greeneking.co.uk
Website: www.gkleisuretracker.co.uk
DISCLAIMER
This report was created by Greene King and Trajectory Partnership.
Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the material in this report. The authors will not be held liable
for any loss or damages incurred through the use of this report.
Bury St. Edmunds, February 2015.