The boss of Shepherd Neame says he hopes “the gods will smile” on the pub sector after years of economic pressures left many in the industry struggling to survive.

Hit by Brexit, the pandemic, soaring costs and inflation, a recruitment crisis and a slump in consumer confidence, pubs operated by the Faversham firm are finally seeing a return to normal trading.

In its latest financial figures, released today, for the six months to December 23, Shepherd Neame saw record revenues of £89 million – up 4.3% on the first half of the year.

It put that down to a better-than-expected Christmas – the first in which pubs were able to trade normally since 2019 due to Covid – and a return to office working helping fuel revenues in the 43 pubs it operates in and around London.

Like-for-like sales overall were up by 6.1% while EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) increased by 5.2% to £12.1m.

However, it admitted it had been hit hard by enforced price hikes on its bottled beers sold through supermarkets – a highly competitive area – with sales taking a hit.

But Jonathan Neame says the outlook is finally looking positive.

He explained: “Consumer demand has remained robust, with exceptional trade over the Christmas period.

“Whilst the inflation outlook is improving overall, we do face new inflationary challenges such as the further rise to the National Living Wage.

“The best trading conditions are where consumers are feeling confident and the weather is benign.

“The last four or five years has felt like we, as an industry, have been swimming against the tide and it feels as if the gods need to smile on us.

“But we have a strong balance sheet, a well-balanced, cash-generative business and a fantastic team of dedicated talent that give us confidence in our long-term prospects.”