Katie Taylor fight drives surge in spending around Croke Park

Katie Taylor makes her entrance to Croke Park last weekend. Photo: INPHO/James Crombie

Spending in restaurants in the vicinity of Croke Park, on the night that Katie Taylor beat Flora Pili in her final bout as a professional boxer, was nearly €250,000 higher than on any other day during July and August as 83,000 people turned out to see the fight.

According to data from AIB’s Spend Trend, on Saturday, September 5, the spend in restaurants within two kilometres of Croke Park by AIB customers was €248,000, higher than any day in July and August. 

On the day, AIB customers also spent €211,000 in pubs in the north inner city.

The spend in pubs around Croke Park was bigger on the day of the GAA All-Ireland Men’s Senior Football Championship Final on July 26, on which AIB customers spent €264,000.

Overall spend for August was up 3% over 12 months.

With students heading back to school in September, data between July and August showed that the spend on book and stationery shops increased by 36%. Of that spending, over two-thirds, 67%, was done by women, and the age group with the biggest share of purchases was 45- to 54-year-olds, who accounted for 30% of sales.

When we compare book shop sales for August 2026 with August 2025 there was growth of 1%. Over recent years December has remained the busiest month for book sales.

In terms of entertainment, cinema spending peaked on Sunday, August 2, with the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day that weekend and The Odyssey a few weeks prior. For the month of August cinema spend was up 59% year on year.

Spending on electric car charging was up 92% in August compared to 12 months ago which reflects a significant increase in the popularity of these vehicles so far this year. Data from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry shows that electric car sales are up 55% compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, AIB customers spent €160m in service stations during the month, which is up 6% over 12 months.

AIB’s head of consumer, Adrian Moynihan, said in August “we saw the busiest day of the year in cinemas, the annual back to school book shop spend increased, and spend in service stations creeped back up as oil prices rose”.

The data was compiled from 79 million card transactions carried out by AIB customers in store and online during August 2026 and has been anonymised and aggregated.