CGA report shows experience is everything as competitive socialising venues flourish – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

Experiential venues like competitive socialising bars, event spaces and food halls are an increasingly compelling alternative to traditional hospitality venues, according to research from CGA by NIQ.

CGA’s new Beyond the Ordinary: 3rd Space, Competitive Socialising & Event Space Report​ highlights the growing desire of consumers to get more than just food and drink when they go out.

It reveals that just over a third (35%) of consumers going out for competitive socialising activities, do so every week, following a surge in openings of venues offering games like golf, darts or arcade sports.

Three in five (60%) now say they are more likely to visit a pub or bar if it offers competitive socialising activities.

Three out of five (40%) consumers that have stated they go to ticketed events visit venues with a bar or event space on a weekly basis. Whilst stadia have become the third fastest growing type of venue for consumer visits, with just over one in 10 (13%) of consumers now visiting them weekly. Younger adults in particular are increasingly attracted to sites like food halls, and more than a third (35%) of 18 to 34 year-olds say they are visiting these more often than they were a year ago.

Chris Sterling, CGA by NIQ client director, said, “The steady shift in consumers’ preferences towards spaces that are led by experiences and events is one of the most important on premise dynamics of recent times.

“It’s turning a channel that was once considered a temporary niche into a powerful and permanent part of the market. People remain eager to eat and drink out, but they’re now demanding something more when they go out, with value for money and social currency among their top priorities.”