Ice cream, tents and cider sales rising as classic summers return
Popularity of barbecue food also on rise as families make most of being home and away in Britain
FAMILIES are leading a revival of the classic British summer with sales of ice cream, bicycles and tents all rising sharply.
Barbecue food, cider and sparkling wine have also increased in popularity as the public demand traditional summer favourites, figures from the Office for National Statistics indicate.
Sunny weather, a resurgence of the craft beer industry and the start of the Tour de France in the UK were all linked to the increases last year.
Bob Atkinson, of Travelsupermarket.com, said that as the weather im- proved the public were increasingly wanting to make the most of weekends, not just holidays.
“There is a huge proportion of staycations but that includes short weekends away,” he said. “The rise in camping may also be due to the increasing popularity of festivals.
“People just want to make the most of their weekends.
“And as soon as we get a hint of good weather, everyone rushes down to the supermarket to buy barbecue goods and ice cream. It normally then rains of course.” The public bought £723 million of ice cream manufactured in the UK last year – enough to fill more than seven cones for every person in Britain. That was an increase of almost a quarter on sales in 2008 and up 14 per cent on the year before.
British-made bicycles are also increasingly popular, with sales passing £60million last year, up two thirds on 2013 and double the sales of 2011.
The ONS said one reason for the growth in popularity was the opening stage of the Tour de France in Yorkshire last summer.
Britain’s love of caravanning and camping has also returned.
Sales of tents and caravan awnings have increased by three quarters since 2008, to £18.4 million last year.
Caravan sales also went up by seven per cent since 2012 with sales worth £341.4 million last year. Sales of small caravans totalled £261.7 million. This translates as roughly 50,000 vehicles — enough for each resident of the Shetland and Orkney Islands.
Some related products increased four fold. Sleeping bag sales rose from £1.3 million in 2008 to £4.9 million last year. Assuming an average price of £20 per bag, that would mean just under 250,000 sold.
But it is not a British summer without a barbecue and something to drink.
Since 2008, sales of beer and cider have followed that of the average annual temperature for the UK.
The warm summers of 2011 and 2014 saw annual sales of the beverages rise considerably, while figures dipped in 2010 and 2012 when the temperature was below the mean average.
Cider saw a particularly strong growth, with manufacturers’ sales increasing by over a half since 2010, hitting £911.2 million in 2014. The ONS attributed the increase to the growing popularity of alternative fruit ciders.
Domestic sparkling wine also enjoyed a boost with sales of £6 million in 2014 – more than double that of 2010.
Fresh cuts of beef and veal increased by more than half between 2008 and 2014. Chicken sales also rose, from £1.3 billion in 2012 to £2 billion last year, but sausages appeared to be falling out of favour.