º£½ÇÊÓƵ

South West craft brewer Butcombe has hailed its "strong performance" for the first half of the year despite tough trading conditions in the sector.

The Wrington-based group - formerly known as Liberation - said good weather and investment in its pub estate, including the enhancement of external areas, had boosted sales across its entire business.

The company reported like-for-like sales growth of nearly 10% over the period across its managed pubs division, including drink at 13%, food at 8% and accommodation 4.1%. Sales also rose 11.9% at Butcombe Pubs & Inns.

Butcombe said its food offering was continuing to "perform well", while the accommodation business was "outperforming" the broader market, with strong demand across its Butcombe Boutique Inns chain.

Events have also helped boost the company's bottom line, with weddings delivering 76% growth versus last year, while its managed pubs achieved record trading days for Mother's Day (31% growth) and Father's Day (11%) versus the previous year.

Butcombe also saw a rise in engagement with its loyalty scheme, with an increase of 17.6% active customers over the last year after investing in data analytics, it added.

Jonathan Lawson, chief executive of Butcombe Group, said: "It is great to see such a strong performance for the first half of 2025 despite a challenging trading environment and weak consumer confidence.

"It’s a testimony to the hard work of the entire team and reflective of our ongoing investment in people, quality, customer experience, and data. We approach the second half of the year with optimism and are confident that we can continue to outperform the market as we have done for a number of years."