THE WINE MERCHANT. An independent magazine for independent retailers
Dog of the month: Charlie Milne & Pickles, Peebles
Issue 116, August 2022
Hybrids buckle up as the squeeze on spending hits Only a third of hospitality firms are in profit – and some indies have already concluded the sums no longer add up
H
Joe Woodhouse
ybrid wine merchants are battling strong headwinds in the face of
escalating costs and the squeeze
on consumer spending.
High profile closures recently have seen
Kwas in Huddersfield stop trading and Real Drinks close its store in Twickenham (see pages 5 and 8).
It was Real Drinks’ second branch to face
the axe this year after its shop in Notting Hill, west London, closed in January.
A report for UK Hospitality, the British
Institute of Innkeeping and the British
Beer & Pub Association suggests that only
37% of hospitality businesses are currently making a profit.
The biggest reasons cited are rising
energy costs (74%), stock price inflation
(55%) and increased labour costs (54%).
Almost a quarter have reduced opening
hours and one in six have no cash reserves. Hybrid wine stores are trying to remain
positive but admit the going is tough.
Richard Everton, at Bottles in Worcester,
says on-trade sales are 20% up on 2021
so far this year on a like-for-like basis, but Wine importer Beattie & Roberts has opened premises in Newington Green to be known as Cadet. The restaurant/wine shop concept is the idea of (from left) Francis Roberts, George Jephson, Jamie Smart and Tom Beattie. Full story on page 9. Only about half of revenue comes from walk-in custom
off-trade revenue is flat. Wholesale is up because of the general return of the ontrade.
“Some customers have gone to the
market a little bit and we’ve picked up