Greene King hit by Scots drink-drive limit change

BELHAVEN owner Greene King suffered tougher trading in the second half of its financial year, despite record sales at Easter and Valentine’s Day.

Greene King reported surging food sales at its 1,900 pubs and restaurants

The brewer, which runs some 1,900 pubs and restaurants across the UK, said in an update today that like-for-like sales edged up 0.4 per cent in the 51 weeks to 26 April, hindered by strong comparatives against last year and the impact of new drink driving legislation in Scotland.

The new laws came into force before Christmas and limit drivers to 50mg of alcohol in every 100ml of blood, down from 80mg and making it lower than the rest of the UK.

Greene King, which owns the Hungry Horse and Loch Fyne brands, said that, without this law, like-for-like sales would have been 0.8 per cent higher.

It added that during the Easter period it achieved record sales with 800,000 diners over the long holiday weekend. On Valentine’s Day it secured record sales of £4 million.