By Laura McGuire
The chief executive of Fuller’s has said London is “buzzing” with activity as sunny spells and a return to office working has helped boost business trade.
Simon Emeny, Fuller’s’ chief reported an increase in corporate booking across its almost 400 strong pub estate as employees returned to the office post-pandemic.
The pub chain also reported a 33 per cent hike in revenues to £336.6m while like-for-like sales in the year also grew by 17.5 per cent compared to prior year, with Central London growing by 40.1 per cent.
“London is absolutely buzzing at the moment..and there’s actually a real happiness out there that I haven’t seen since Covid-19,” Emeny told City A.M.
As temperatures reach over 30 degrees over the weekend, Emeny described the warm weather as a “really brilliant boost in trade”.
Over the year many pub businesses were impacted by high inflation and energy costs – however Emeny said he has noticed a cooling of these pressures in recent months.
“Energy inflation is not as bad as it was. That was our biggest cost increase last year..that’s coming down quite significantly,” he said.
“We are seeing signs that food inflation is abating as well.”
More to follow
