Stonegate celebrates a very merry Christmas
Stonegate Group has released an update on its trading over the festive period.

Following a number of record-breaking brand performances, Stonegate Group has released an update on its trading over the recent festive period.
Its managed pubs saw a 9.7% uplift in like-for-like sales on 2023, with bars and venues seeing a 4.1% increase.
Craft Union, its wet-led community pub division, delivered a record breaking Christmas week, with sales over £8m for the first time, while 234 sites across its managed estate reported record breaking sales weeks
Stonegate says over 1m pre-booked guests were welcomed over the festive period across its managed estate, which is the highest in the group’s history.
Details of its leased and tenanted estate sales were omitted from the festive update, other than stating that Stonegate "saw strong momentum in its Pub Partners business", which continued to deliver year-on-year profit growth.
Team effort
"Performance across the group was encouraging over the festive period, with particularly strong sales in our managed pub estate," says David McDowall, CEO of Stonegate Group (pictured). "It was also pleasing to see the momentum in our bar and venues estate over the period. Craft Union pubs trade particularly well when guests go out more locally, and we saw this play out during the season. Our Pub Partners business continued its very solid trading momentum, once again growing profit over the period.
"None of this is possible without the hard work and commitment of colleagues across the group, and, above all, I would like to thank the whole Stonegate team for their efforts. While we are encouraged by our performance over the festive period, we are very aware that Christmas only comes once a year and that the hospitality sector continues to face headwinds on multiple fronts, and that the economic climate remains challenging. We are, however, well positioned to maintain our positive trajectory moving into 2025. Our fantastic team have achieved a lot, but we have plenty of progress still left to deliver."