Britain’s number of licensed premises fell by 0.4 percent in the last three months of 2025, the latest Hospitality Market Monitor from NIQ reveals
The country had 98,914 sites at the end of December, 382 fewer than in September and equivalent to more than four net closures per day over the fourth quarter. It represents an abrupt end to a resilient year for hospitality, after site numbers rose by 0.2 percent in the first nine months of 2025. The reversal in fortunes follows relentless inflation for businesses in key cost areas, alongside fragile consumer confidence about spending.
The Hospitality Market Monitor, produced by NIQ and powered by CGA intelligence, shows fourth-quarter losses were especially high in the casual dining and restaurant segments, which recorded net declines of 1.8 percent and 1.0 percent respectively. In these two channels combined, there were 241 net closures in just three months, or nearly 19 per week. Across all food-led businesses, sites fell by 0.8 percent between September and December.
Fourth-quarter performance was slightly stronger on the drink-led side of hospitality, where numbers slipped only 0.1 percent. Bars recorded quarter-on-quarter growth of 1.0 percent, a sign that operators here have been slightly better protected from cost pressures, and that many consumers have been choosing to drink out rather than eat out in recent months.
NIQ’s Hospitality Market Monitor provides many more insights into opening and closure trends in 2025. They include a steady return to growth in London, where site numbers rose by 0.6 percent over the course of 2025. The capital is still 14.0 percent short of the pre-COVID benchmark of March 2020, but hospitality there has been boosted by the steady return of office workers to their desks after sustained periods of working from home, as well as an uptick in visitors from overseas.
“An acceleration in closures in the final quarter of 2025 shows the toll that relentless increases in operating costs are taking on hospitality. The dip is particularly concerning as it came during hospitality’s most important trading period of the year, when businesses usually build the cash reserves to get through the quieter start to the new year,” said Karl Chessell, director – hospitality operators and food, EMEA at CGA by NIQ.
“Despite the government’s recent rethink on rates for pubs, conditions are unlikely to get any easier in 2026, and business confidence and sales growth both remain weak. Some hospitality groups and entrepreneurs continue to open sites, but without more support and an upswing in people’s spending, we are likely to see hundreds more permanent closures in the months ahead.”
Subscribe to the Restaurant & Café newsletter for weekly industry updates and event coverage.
