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 26th April 2025 to 23rd May 2025.
10 years of spend
For the past 10 years, we've provided insights into UK consumer spending. So, what can the last decade of consumer spending tell us about the next one?
May key insights
Overall consumer spending slowed slightly in May compared to April, as consumers kept a close eye on their budgets. Nonetheless, many continued to find affordable ways to indulge and make the most of moments with friends and family.
Head of Client Insights, Barclays
Essential card spending decreased -1.1% in May 2025 when compared to this time last year, a fall compared to April 2025 (3.1%). This comes as spending in Grocery, an Essential category, dropped compared to April 2025 with consumers seeking to extract more value from their weekly shop.
Non-Essential card spending increased by 2.0% year-on-year, although this is lower than the growth in April 2025 (5.1%). Whilst the dual Bank Holidays in May encouraged discretionary spending, this was offset by wet weather in the second half of the month, and by consumers cutting back discretionary spending amid falling confidence in personal finances.
Consumer card spending slows in May amid falling confidence in personal finances
Overall Retail spending increased 1.1% in May 2025 when compared to this time last year, a fall compared to April 2025 (6.8%). This comes as Grocery spending grew just 0.9%, a drop compared to the 6.6% uplift in April 2025 as consumers sought more value from their weekly shops amid inflationary concerns. Clothing retailers and Department Stores also saw reduced growth compared to April 2025, with the majority of consumers choosing to make cutbacks in this area of discretionary spending. However, the UK’s sunniest spring on record helped boost spending across seasonal categories such as Pharmacy, Health & Beauty and Garden Centres.
Spend in the overall Hospitality & Leisure sector increased by 3.3% in May 2025, a fall compared to April 2025 (6.7%). The slowdown was likely due to consumers opting to have quieter Bank Holidays in May to rebalance their budgets, having spent more freely during the two bank holidays in April. The wet weather in the second half of the month also impacted spending in categories such as Bars, Pubs & Clubs, dampening pub gardens across the nation. However, the big and small screen remained popular amongst consumers, with the Digital Content & Subscription category, and Entertainment, both having strong performances in May 2025.
Hospitality and Leisure
Overall H&L spend growth remained modest, despite the dual Bank Holidays in May
Despite the dual Bank Holidays in May, which typically fuels Hospitality & Leisure spending, the sector only rose by a modest 3.3% in the month, a fall compared to April 2025 (6.7%). This comes as consumers likely opted to have quieter Bank Holidays in May to rebalance their budgets, due to pushing the boat out during the two Bank Holidays in April.
The wet weather in the second half of the month also impacted consumer spending, with spend at Bars, Pubs & Clubs only increasing by 2.5% in May 2025, a fall compared to April 2025 (6.6%) as the rainy showers dampened pub gardens across the nation.
However, spending on Entertainment held firm, rising by 4.9%, suggesting that fans and families flocked to the cinemas to watch blockbuster, record-breaking films such as ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ and ‘Lilo & Stitch’. Spend on Digital Content and Subscriptions also grew 4.9% in May 2025, driven by popular new TV shows such as ‘Clarkson’s Farm Season 4’ and, ‘Sirens’, and movie hits such as ‘Paddington in Peru’ and, ‘The Brutalist’ hitting streaming platforms.
Despite the dual bank holidays in May, consumers opted for a quieter month to rebalance their budgets after April’s Easter holidays. The wet weather in the second half of the month also dampened pub garden visits, although consumers enjoyed themselves indoors at the cinemas.
Head of Hospitality and Leisure, Barclays Corporate Banking
Consumers lock in summer plans as spend at Airlines rises
Consumers locked in their summer plans with spend at Airlines increasing by 9.7% in May 2025, a notable jump compared to April 2025 (5.5%). On the other hand, spend at Travel Agents only increased by 0.1%, the lowest growth in this category since June 2023 (0.1%).
This is perhaps due to a quarter (25%) of UK adults saying that they’ll opt for lesser-known or cheaper alternatives to popular tourist spots this year, otherwise known as “Destination Dupes”. Of these, a third (33%) cite cost savings as the main reason, while others are seeking more authentic (29%) or more up-and-coming (18%) destinations. **
Retail
UKs sunniest spring triggers seasonal spending
The UK’s sunniest spring on record helped boost spending across seasonal categories, with Pharmacy, Health & Beauty retailers benefitting hugely. The category recorded the highest spend growth of any category in May 2025 (12.0%), with increased pharmacy spending linked to the 133.2% surge in website visits to the NHS’ hay fever advice page in early May***.
Garden centres were another notable bright spot, recording growth of 7.2%, although this was considerably less than the standout growth of 25.0% in April 2025. Meanwhile, spend at General Retailers fell -0.4%, a decline compared to April 2025 (6.9%), whilst Clothing sales only increased by 0.9%, lower than the growth of 3.6% in April 2025.
This comes as almost half of the consumers (46%) surveyed in the latest Barclays Consumer Confidence Survey – a slight increase compared to April 2025 (45%) – say that they are planning to reduce their discretionary spending, with the most common category to rein in spending being new clothes and accessories (56%). **
The UK’s sunniest spring on record boosted spending on seasonal categories such as Pharmacy, Health and Beauty as hay fever cases surged. Garden Centres also performed well, whilst spend on clothing and accessories fell with consumers cutting back in this area.
Head of Retail and Wholesale, Barclays Corporate Banking
Supermarket spending slows as consumers get savvy
Spend growth at Supermarkets increased by 0.2% in May 2025, a fall compared to April 2025 (6.1%). This comes as a result of the long-running trend of consumers seeking to extract more value from their weekly shop.
57% of consumers are actively trying to reduce their grocery bills, with many in this group turning to loyalty schemes (57%), discounted products (54%), switching to discount supermarkets (49%), and own-brand alternatives (46%). Other popular strategies include stockpiling favourites (39%) and relying on the ‘big weekly shop’ instead of smaller ad hoc ‘top-up shops’ (29%). **
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Leveraging anonymised data from our 250 million monthly customer transactions in the UK can help you understand who your customers are and how, when, and where they spend.
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Appendix
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Spend Growth Transaction Growth Essential -1.1% 0.1% Non Essential 2.0% 2.3% Overall 1.0% 1.4% Retail 1.1% 1.8% Clothing 0.9% 3.8% Grocery 0.9% 1.4% Supermarkets 0.2% -1.3% Food & Drink Specialist 7.4% 15.5% Household 0.7% 5.0% Home Improvements & DIY -0.9% -4.7% Electronics -2.0% 16.1% Furniture Stores 3.9% -0.8% Garden Centres 7.2% 5.6% General Retailers -0.4% 1.4% General Retailers & Catalogues 3.6% 3.6% Department Stores -13.4% -5.5% Discount Stores -2.1% -1.1% Specialist Retailers 5.1% 1.7% Pharmacy, Health & Beauty 12.0% 3.1% Sports & Outdoor -3.1% -1.6% Other Specialist Retailers 2.8% 0.9% Hospitality & Leisure 3.3% 1.0% Digital Content & Subscription 4.9% 3.2% Eating & Drinking 2.0% -0.1% Restaurants, Cafes and Bakeries 2.6% 1.9% Bars, Pubs & Clubs 2.5% 2.0% Takeaways and Fast Food 0.8% -4.0% Entertainment 4.9% 8.0% Hotels, Resorts & Accomodation 3.8% 2.1% Travel 3.7% 0.2% Travel Agents 0.1% 11.4% Airlines 9.7% -3.5% Public Transport 4.8% -3.6% Other Travel 4.3% 7.5% Other -2.9% 0.8% Fuel -11.2% -5.0% Motoring -6.5% 6.8% Other Services 3.4% 4.3% Insperience 2.6% -0.4% Online 2.0% 3.6% F2F 0.1% 0.5% -
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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 26th April 2025 to 23rd May 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 27th April 2024 to 24th May 2024 and total spend per customer in the period 26th April 2025 to 23rd May 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 23rd and 27th May 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.
*** Source: NHS England: https://www.england.nhs.uk/2025/05/searches-for-nhs-hay-fever-advice-double-as-temperatures-rise/
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