Sunderland sees huge rise in new coffee shops and cafes

There has been a huge growth of coffee shops and cafes in Sunderland in recent years.

The number of businesses has doubled since 2010, from 45 to 90 this year, according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.

The ONS figures for unlicensed restaurants include both coffee shops and fastfoods outlets.

And it is these two types of businesses that are driving the sector boom across the country, market analysts say.

But more businesses on high streets also means more competitors.

The investment bank Citibank said in a report released last year that the number of coffee shops cannot keep growing at the same high pace and forecast that the boom in the sector will not last beyond 2022.

People in the UK drink 95 million cups of coffee each day, up from 70 million 10 years ago, according to a study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

One in 10 are sold in coffee shops, and more than half of those are served by Costa Cafe, Starbucks and Cafe Nero.

Mike Cherry, the Federation of Small Business’s national chairman said: “Crucially, it isn’t just chain stores who are seeing their fortunes rise, but independents are also thriving in this food and drink boom.

“Not only does this help small firms, but also gives shoppers a greater wealth of choice and promotes good healthy competition.”

The data from the ONS shows that the opening of new coffee shops and fastfood restaurants in Sunderland has slowed since 2016, but still increased by 20%.

The expansion of these businesses in Sunderland was faster than the average for the UK.