Pub spend down in August but restaurants fare much better
Adrian Moynihan, AIB says this information is vital for businesses, enabling them to plan for both peak and off-peak periods throughout the year
AIB Spend Trend reveals that overall consumer spending was up by 8% in August. However pub spend decreased by 2% in the same period, with 66% of spend by men.
Spend in restaurants and take aways increased 8%, with 83% of this on premise and 17% via delivery apps or online. The counties with the largest restaurant spend via delivery apps were Dublin (21.9%), Louth (21.1%) and Kildare (17.2%). The counties with the least spend via delivery apps were Leitrim (8.4%), Roscommon (9.7%) and Kerry (10.2%).
Meanwhile spend on groceries increased 4% in August year on year. The biggest increase in spend on groceries was in counties Roscommon (+7.4%), Offaly and Louth (6.6%) and the smallest increase was in Clare (+1.4%), Longford (+1.6%) and Wicklow (+2.0%). 57% of grocery purchases were by women, 93% were in store and just 7% were online.
The data was compiled from 85 million card transactions carried out by AIB customers in store and online during August 2025, five million of which were carried out abroad.
Spend by AIB customers in the US fell significantly in August, down 18% year on year and down 11.5% year to date. Meanwhile, AIB customers had the highest ever number of transactions in the UK last month. There were 1.4 million card transactions by Irish visitors in the UK in August, an increase of 11% year on year. The UK overtook Spain as the number one destination for spend by Irish visitors. While the value of spend by Irish visitors to the UK was 8% higher than the previous August, there was no change in the value of spend in Spain between August 2024 and August 2025.
The top five destinations in August ranked by percentage of spend were, The UK (23.4%), Spain (22.8%), France (7.9%), Portugal (6.8%) and Italy (5.9%).
Speaking about the data, Adrian Moynihan, head of consumer at AIB said, “August is typically a month where people are on holidays and it’s interesting to see spend by Irish visitors to the US has decreased significantly, it’s down 18% year on year and 11.5% year to date, which demonstrates a clear trend. And there is movement in the top two destinations abroad for AIB customers, with the UK topping the list, as evidence of Ireland’s close travel links with the UK.
“This information is vital for businesses, enabling them to plan for both peak and off-peak periods throughout the year to effectively meet their customers’ needs.”
