UK Consumer Spending Report
View our latest insights on how spending patterns are changing across the UK.
Barclays UK Consumer Spend Report gives you a unique and up to date picture of the nation’s spending habits based on the actual transactions, bringing it to life so you can take action and shape your strategy.
Our latest report looks at UK consumer spending patterns for the 28th March 2025 to 25th April 2025.
10 years of spend
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April key insights
Overall consumer spending bounced back strongly in April, with the warm weather and Easter weekend boosting all the sub-sectors in retail and hospitality. Consumers also embraced the best of Britain, from supporting local butchers and delis, to visiting the countryside with friends and family.
Head of Client Insights, Barclays
Essential card spending increased by 3.1% in April 2025 when compared to this time last year, returning to growth after two months of decline. This comes as spending in Grocery, an Essential category, had its highest month of year-on-year growth (6.6%) since September 2023 (7.0%).
Non-Essential card spending increased by 5.1% in April 2025 when compared to this time last year, an uplift compared to March 2025 (2.2%). This is also the highest growth seen since July 2023 (5.6%) with the warm April weather boosting spend across several categories.
The warm weather and Easter weekend boost all Retail and Hospitality & Leisure subcategories
Overall Retail spending increased 6.8% in April 2025 when compared to this time last year, the highest increase since May 2021 (13.6%). This comes as the April sunshine and the long Easter weekend prompted consumers to visit the high street, with every retail subcategory tracked monthly by the Barclays Consumer Spend report seeing growth, for the first time since tracking of these categories began in 2019. The standout performers in the month were Garden Centres (25.0%), as consumers got their gardens ready for the summer season, alongside Pharmacy, Health & Beauty retailers, with spend growth reaching a 37-month high of 15.1% in April 2025.
Spend in the overall Hospitality & Leisure sector also increased in April 2025, rising 6.7%, the highest increase since December 2023 (8.9%). This comes as consumers made the most of the warm weather and socialised with friends and family at beer gardens, with spend at Bars, Pubs & Clubs reaching a 16-month high. Staycations also proved popular with consumers as Hotels, Resorts & Accommodation had their best month since October 2023, while consumers said that they want to support the local economy by holidaying within the UK.
Hospitality and Leisure
The higher temperatures spurred on socialising, boosting overall hospitality spend
Spend on overall Eating & Drinking increased by 6.6% in April 2025, the highest year-on-year uplift since July 2023 (9.2%). Spend at Bars, Pubs & Clubs reached a 16-month high, rising by 6.6% in the month, as the higher temperatures encouraged consumers to socialise with friends and family at beer gardens. Restaurants, Cafes & Bakeries also returned to growth with spending rising by 8.1%.
Meanwhile, the Entertainment sector had another strong month, with spend rising by 13.2%, the highest increase since October 2024 (13.5%), suggesting that consumers enjoyed the recent cinema releases such as ‘Sinners’ and ‘Minecraft’. The Easter weekend, combined with the sunny weather, seemingly encouraged family days out.
Spend in the overall Travel sector also remained strong, at 6.1% in April 2025, an uplift compared to March 2025 (5.7%). The growth this month was predominantly driven by spend at Travel Agents which grew 7.0%, in line with March 2025 (7.1%).
Consumers enjoyed the sunny weather in April and socialised with friends and family at beer gardens, with spend at Bars, Pubs & Clubs reaching a 16-month high. Staycations also proved to be popular with consumers choosing to support local economy and explore the British countryside.
Head of Hospitality and Leisure, Barclays Corporate Banking
Consumers embrace staycations in April
Hotels, Resorts & Accommodation had a particularly strong month in April 2025, with spend increasing by 6.1%, the highest growth since October 2023 (7.4%). This comes as 29% of consumers said that they wanted to explore the British countryside and suggested that staycations are more convenient and are a source of less hassle than international travel. **
Moreover, two in five consumers said that they want to support the local economy by holidaying within the UK and think that staycations are a great way to spend time with friends and family, whilst 18% of consumers believe a staycation now offers better value than holidays abroad. **
Retail
The early arrival of warm weather bolsters the high-street
Overall Retail spending increased by 6.8% in April 2025, as the April sunshine and the long Easter weekend encouraged consumers to visit the high street. This corresponds with a resurgence of in-store shopping, with face-to-face retail spending (excluding groceries) increasing by 7.0% in the month, the highest uplift since January 2023 (9.4%).
For the first time since monthly tracking of these sectors began in 2019, every Retail subcategory saw growth. Garden Centres benefitted hugely, with spend rising by 25.0%, the category’s highest growth on record, as consumers prepped their gardens for the summer season
Meanwhile, spend at Home Improvements & DIY retailers increased by 4.0%, likely boosted by the recent changes to stamp duty thresholds, as buyers rushed to complete their purchase to secure tax savings ahead of the deadline. Clothing retailers had their best month since September 2024 (4.5%), with spend rising by 3.6% as consumers refreshed their wardrobes with summer wear.
April’s sunny weather bolstered the high-street, with all Retail subcategories seeing growth in the month. From refreshing their wardrobes to preparing their gardens for the summer season, consumers made the most of the warm weather and the Easter weekend.
Head of Retail and Wholesale, Barclays Corporate Banking
Consumers prioritise ‘home-grown’ and locally-made products
Research conducted in late April, in the wake of the news about tariffs, showed 68% of UK shoppers want to support UK businesses by buying more UK-made products, with 12% of all consumers willing to pay a premium for British or local products. When asked about what British-made products shoppers plan to buy more of or switch to, fruit and vegetables topped the list (46%), followed by dairy (39%), meat (39%) and seafood (29%). **
This growing preference for local produce, combined with the weather, likely contributed to the 11.4% uplift in spend at Food & Drink Specialist stores in April 2025, the highest increase since July 2021 (13.3%).
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Appendix
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Spend Growth Transaction Growth Essential 3.1% 2.4% Non Essential 5.1% 4.3% Overall 4.5% 3.6% Retail 6.8% 5.1% Clothing 3.6% 6.2% Grocery 6.6% 4.4% Supermarkets 6.1% 2.0% Food & Drink Specialist 11.4% 17.4% Household 6.5% 8.3% Home Improvements & DIY 4.0% -1.5% Electronics 5.5% 17.0% Furniture Stores 5.2% -0.4% Garden Centres 25.0% 17.3% General Retailers 6.9% 5.5% General Retailers & Catalogues 6.8% 5.1% Department Stores 7.2% 8.8% Discount Stores 6.3% 4.5% Specialist Retailers 9.9% 5.9% Pharmacy, Health & Beauty 15.1% 5.5% Sports & Outdoor 3.4% 3.1% Other Specialist Retailers 8.2% 7.0% Hospitality & Leisure 6.7% 2.3% Digital Content & Subscription 4.6% 2.5% Eating & Drinking 6.6% 2.1% Restaurants, Cafes and Bakeries 8.1% 4.3% Bars, Pubs & Clubs 6.6% 3.9% Takeaways and Fast Food 4.5% -1.8% Entertainment 13.2% 8.5% Hotels, Resorts & Accomodation 6.1% 4.3% Travel 6.1% 0.3% Travel Agents 7.0% 15.3% Airlines 5.5% -4.7% Public Transport 4.0% -4.1% Other Travel 6.7% 8.6% Other -4.7% 0.6% Fuel -8.6% -3.5% Motoring -4.5% 8.7% Other Services -2.7% 0.4% Insperience 4.6% 0.5% Online 4.0% 4.3% F2F 4.9% 3.3% -
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Data source
Barclays debit card and Barclaycard credit card transactions in the UK.Data range
The spending data in this report relates to the period 28th March 2025 to 25th April 2025.
Inclusion criteria:
Customers aged at least 16 in the relevant period. Active customers using card payments in the relevant period (excluding spending on banking products, i.e. mortgages, loans, savings, utilities, tax and gambling).Spending growth calculation:
Percentage difference between total spend per customer in the period 29th March 2024 to 26th April 2024 and total spend per customer in the period 28th March 2025 to 25th April 2025.Spending categorisation:
- Essential: Childcare, healthcare, insurance, grocery, fuel and public transport spend.
- Other food and drink: cafes, bakeries and any other food and drink establishments that cannot be classified.
- Entertainment: gym memberships and leisure activities such as cinema, family days out, sports and theatre.
- General retailers: selling a wide range of different products, e.g. department stores, catalogue shops, online marketplaces.
- Specialist retailers: selling a particular category of goods, e.g. toy shops, jewellers, sports shops.
- Other services: education, legal, insurance, childcare, post office / delivery, charities and personal services, e.g. hairdressers.
- Insperience: Digital Content & Subscriptions, Takeaways & Fast Food, Hobbies, Crafts & Collections and Online Food & Drink Specialist retailers.**
Note: Starting October 2024, Barclays will report the growth of consumer spending on ‘Restaurants, Cafes and Bakeries’, which is a combination of two former categories: ‘Restaurants’ and ‘Other Food and Drink’. Distinctions between established restaurant chains (previously reported as ‘Restaurants’) and other forms of eateries (e.g. independent restaurants, food stalls, caterers and cafes – previously reported as ‘Other Food and Drink’) have become increasingly blurred, and Barclays believes that the combined ‘Restaurants, Cafes and Bakeries’ category is a better representation of consumer spending on dining out more broadly.
*CPIH: Consumer Prices Index^ including owner occupiers' housing costs,
** Denotes a comment from the consumer confidence survey. The consumer confidence survey in this press release was carried out between 25th and 29th April 2025 by Opinium Research on behalf of Barclays. There were 2,000 respondents, providing a representative sample of UK consumers by age, gender, region, and income group.
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