Hospitality Sector Index

The Moore Kingston Smith monthly hospitality sector report provides you with a valuable and timely indication of the month-on-month and year-on-year changes occurring within the sector.

Restaurants, pubs and bars –
October 2025

Our analysis

October 2025 vs prior month

In October 2025, the UK hospitality sector demonstrated positive momentum, influenced in part by seasonal changes. Casual Dining outperformed other segments, with service charge revenue up 12.30% and hours worked up 3.09%. These figures reflect the contemporary appeal of high-quality dining at an affordable price during times of economic pressure.

The Pubs and Bars segment saw service charge revenue grow by 2.66%, supported by sports events and seasonal promotions. Yet, hours worked fell by 2.38%. This suggests that businesses are continuing to strive for operational efficiencies, implementing tighter staffing models to offset rising labour costs.

October 2025 vs October 2024

Fine Dining experienced a slight decline, with revenue down 0.30% and hours worked down 0.28%. Given the inflationary effect, this suggests consumers are prioritising more affordable options, as the increased economic pressures placed on the UK public has caused a reduction in discretionary spending on premium experiences.

Casual Dining observed a 0.21% increase in revenue, which is less than inflation.  Hours worked fell by 7.38%, suggesting businesses have streamlined operations to offset rising labour costs over the past year.

Pubs & Bars segment showed an increase of 4.34% in revenue, combatting the inflationary pressures while hours worked declined by 7.55%. This efficiency drive highlights the focus on maintaining profitability during a time of economic uncertainty.

In summary, while some segments reported marginal revenue increases from October 2024, the actual growth of UK hospitality remains negative, as inflation continues to rise and erode any real-term gains. A shift in consumer behaviour has certainly been observed, with more affordable dining being in higher demand, while businesses continue to make operational adjustments to reduce labour costs.

Hotels – September 2025*

 *The hotel data reflects a period one month earlier than the restaurant data due to an industry reporting lag.

Our analysis

September 2025 to last month indicates a 0.78% revenue increase and a 3.57% rise in hours worked, driven by late-summer travel and a recovery in corporate bookings.

In the Hotel sector, comparing September year-on-year, revenue grew 2.72%, while hours worked fell 1.71%. While the revenue gains illustrated are at first sight encouraging, in real terms after factoring inflation it is clear that the sector continues to face pressures.

How we can help

For more information about the hospitality sector report, TroncBox or our solutions to the hospitality sector, please contact one of the team.

To read previous editions of the hospitality sector report, click here.

How we collect the data

The Moore Kingston Smith Restaurant, pubs and bars and Hotels indices compare changes in revenues and hours worked relative to the prior month and to prior year. The data for the indices is gathered by WMT Troncmaster Services Limited, part of Moore Kingston Smith, which manages tronc allocations for circa 315 hospitality businesses operating across nearly 900 sites. The data is extracted from our proprietary software, TroncBox, used for the majority of these tronc allocations.

The use of tronc allocation information provides a valid data source following the introduction of the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act on 1 October 2024, which requires 100% of service charge (and tips) to be distributed among all employees without deductions no later than the end of the month following its receipt. Typically, restaurants, pubs and bars distribute tips and service charge at the end of the same month the gratuity is received, however given the nature of the business and the regular use of agency workers, it is commonplace for hotels to make these distributions to workers in arrears which means there is an inherent lag in the hotel sector data.

Published monthly, each Restaurant, pubs and bars and Hotels indices will build on earlier editions to track performance over time.