Scotland’s smoking ban presents a huge opportunity for pubs and bars to grow their soft drinks sales, according to a new report.

With the rest of the UK set to follow Scotland’s example, the importance of soft drinks to the on-trade can’t be overstated, according to report author Britvic.

The Soft Drinks Category Report 2006, which has been published each year for the past decade, shows soft drinks grew 5% in value in 2005 with sales of almost £2.4b.

Britvic sales director Andrew Richards said of the smoking ban: “I see it as an opportunity as it will create an environment where soft drinks play more of a role in the overall offering.”

Soft drinks sales grew faster than beer or spirits last year and are now worth more than wine in terms of revenue.

Pepsi and Coca-Cola remained the leading non-alcoholic brands in pubs and clubs with just less than £900m of sales.

Within the soft drinks category, fruit drinks enjoyed the strongest growth, up 20% year-on-year to £196m.

R White’s remained the top performing lemonade with sales of £192m and Britvic’s J2O saw strong growth with sales up 17% year-on-year to £166m.

Soft drinks report highlights

• Value of soft drinks jumped 5% in pubs and clubs
• Soft drinks now worth more than wine in revenue
• Cola and lemonade remain biggest selling soft drinks
• Juices and mineral waters are the fastest growing soft drinks

By Chris Druce

Get your copy of Caterer and Hotelkeeper every week - click here to subscribe and save 25%.