Loungers sees ‘no shift’ in bargoer spending behaviour despite recession fears

Bar goers have shown no change in spending behaviour at Loungers and Cosy Club venues, according to boss Nick Collins.

While consumer-facing firms have reported declining sales in recent months, Loungers said its recent trading had bucked the trend, with “nothing to suggest a cautious consumer.”

“We have looked for it [signs of change], clearly we’re curious,” he added.

In full year results posted on Wednesday, the London-listed firm said Since the year end its like-for-like sales had been 17.9 per cent on a three year basis.

It posted record sales of £372.m, versus £78.3m in 2021 when trading was still impacted by Covid restrictions.

Shares lifted 2.5 per cent on Wednesday afternoon after the bar chain posted adjusted EBITDA was £53.6m, with profit before tax £321.6m.

Sales had been resilient despite the challenging macroeconomic conditions due to the firm’s “very protective” approach to its pricing, the company said. 

“For us, it’s really important our Loungers n Cosy Clubs represent good value for money. A lot of our competitors have taken a significant amount of price [increases], we haven’t.”

The company is planning to open around 32 new sites per year, after recently opening its 200th venue.

Some post-pandemic trends had continued, such as revellers buying more cocktails, more second drinks and more desserts, Collins told CityA.M.

The brand had also benefited from “more people staying local, working from home, and supporting their local community and high street”, although Collins said he didn’t want to “overstate” this benefit.

Asked what he would hope to see from the new Prime Minister, Collins said: “As much as we’d all love tax cuts, [I would say] just sensible economic policies that will encourage growth and discourage inflation.”