Trade on a high as festive rush builds
As the headlong rush into the key Christmas season gets underway, the hospitality trade in Northern Ireland is looking to make the most of the year’s key selling period.
Among Belfast venues, optimism was very high during the first week in December, as traders reported notable increases in footfall and high levels of interest in Christmas party programmes.
But even outside the capital, where in previous years Christmas trade has been slow to gain momentum, there was evidence of a renewed confidence among hospitality operators.
Speaking to LCN at the start of December, David Maxwell, owner of the Boojum burrito bars, reported that increased footfall from festive shoppers was already boosting business at his Belfast outlets:
“Our sales always ramp in the run-up to Christmas, particularly in the week before Christmas when all the shoppers are out and the city is really busy,” he said. “And there’s the Christmas market, I know that’s been negative in the past for some hospitality establishments, but we always get some spill-over from that.”
He indicated that a gift card promotion and a number of festive offers would shortly be introduced at his Belfast outlets, and describing sentiment among traders generally as “absolutely positive”, he added:
“It’s been a great start and we’re looking forward to the next three or four weeks. We go by the trends, when the shoppers start coming out in force, then we start getting busier and I think we’re looking at a fairly decent Christmas season this year.”
At Saphyre restaurant on the Lisburn Road, Christophe Aertssen also reported a marked increase in early trade. A large number of private festive functions had already been booked by the start of December and with a special Christmas menu in place from November 30, he was expecting strong seasonal trade:
“I think that everyone up here is in a very positive mood, that end-of-year madness is here and everyone is ready for a bit of a party,” he added. “I think everyone is confident that they will do good business this Christmas.”
And at Town Square, a new licensed café and bar venue at Botanic Avenue, owner Peter Ringland said that business had already begun to increase:
“Things are certainly going well,” he told LCN. “This is our first year in business, but we’re more-or-less fully booked at Town Square for Christmas parties from December 1 right up until the 22nd.”
It was a similar story in the north-west of the province. In Derry’s Grand Central Bar, TJ Shiels confirmed a noticeable uplift in trade, particularly at the weekends from the end of November:
“Everyone is very busy,” he said. “We have space upstairs which we use for private parties and we have a lot of Christmas bookings in there…Things are much busier than normal at this time of year in the city and I think everyone feels they should do very well.”
