Pubs remain black spot in rising retail sales figures

Retail sales grew, by volume and value, in the past three months, but changing consumer spending patterns have continued to hit pub and bar sales hard.

New figures from the CSO show bars suffered a 4.8% year-on-year fall in sales volumes in the three months to the end of May, the only business category to see an annualised f all over the period. It follows a 4.2% year on-year sales fall for the pub sector in the previous three months.