UK pub turnover to hit five-year peak in 2006 BUT...

Pub turnover is forecast to grow by two per cent this year to a five-year peak of £16.2bn.

Total pub turnover is expected to increase 'moderately' between now and 2011, with annual growth of between one and two per cent, culminating in an anticipated overall increase of six per cent in real terms to £17.1bn.

Pub numbers are expected to increase by one per cent in 2006 to 60,331, continuing the trend for growth in the number of pubs recorded each year since a three per cent decline in 2002.

Food sales in pubs are meanwhile forecast to rise by seven per cent between 2006 and 2011 to £3.7bn at 2006 prices, while beer sales will account for 43 per cent of turnover annually.

Market & Business Development, a Manchester-based research group, who conducted the study expects pub numbers in the UK to decline between now and 2011 by six per cent, largely as a result of the incoming smoking ban in England, to a total of just under 57,000.

Full report on: www.thepublican.com