UK pub and restaurant companies have been boosted by a 2.9 per cent increase in like-for-like sales during December 2009, according to figures published by the latest monthly Coffer Peach Business Tracker.

Compared with the same period in 2008, the tracker - run in partnership between the Coffer Group, KPMG and UBS - showed a 4.7 per cent increase in total sales, with consumers continuing to spend despite the recession. The increase in like-for-like sales for December was the ninth consecutive month of growth for the 15 pub and restaurant operators that contribute towards the data including Pizza Hut, Punch Taverns and Mitchells and Butler (M&B). Month-on-month sales were up nearly a quarter compared with November.

Peter Martin of Peach Factory, which produces the Business Tracker, said: "The leading chains have worked hard to attract customers out of their homes, despite the weather, and that effort appears to have paid off. "This year, for example, more emphasis has been put on securing pre-booked business for bars and pubs, as well as restaurants, over the Christmas and New Year period."