More pub group failures are likely as consumer spending on eating out continues to fall, a leading consultancy has warned.

A survey of 1,047 adults over the Mother’s Day weekend (7-9 March) by Friary Marketing and Consulting Group (FMCG) found consumer expenditure on eating out had fallen 1.3% year-on-year, heaping pressure on the struggling pub sector.

David Humphries, director at FMCG, said: “I would not be surprised to find that one of bigger operators bites the dust. It is the pub end of the licensed trade that is really taking the brunt of it and they are facing difficult conditions at the moment.”

Forecasts for a recover during Easter have been put in doubt due to the poor weather and early arrival this year of the religious festival.

However Humphries added that it was not all doom and gloom in the market as when customers did eat out they were spending more per head than last year – a rise of 11% on a year ago.

Laurel Pub Company is thought to be poised to head into administration having closed 60 pubs to date, including 40 Yates’s Wine Lodges.

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By Christopher Walton

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