Treat Yourself; Britain’s Growing Leisure Spend *

While a large proportion of our wages will go towards the mundane essentials, like your mortgage, energy bills and other household expenses, it’s nice to treat ourselves every now and again! Whether it’s a spa escape with friends or a mid-week meal out, just how much do us Brits spend on treating ourselves and how do we compare to our European neighbours? Hotel linen provider, Shortridge Laundry does the math:

Eating Out
In 2016, eating out was recorded as the most popular leisure activity in the UK with an astonishing 85% of all of the UK consumer spending being spent on going out to eat in the first quarter of 2016. On average, Brits eat out twice a week, spending on average £44 a week in total. Over the course of a month, this equates to £176 or a staggering £288,000 over the course of a lifetime. Those aged between 18 and 29 spend double this figure, racking up £88 per week in restaurant bills per week; that’s up to £352 per month.

Only the Spanish eat out more regularly than us Brits, with a total food and beverage market worth of $133 billion. Italy follows in third followed by Germany and France.

Hotel Stays
New research from Point A Hotels has shown that the typical Brit will spend £62,000 on a total of 378 different hotel stays during their lifetime, which is a lot more than I thought it would be. When broken down on a night-by-night basis, Brits spend an average of £52 per night on a hotel. This suggests that budget and mid-range hotels are most popular in the UK. We all love a good deal, right?!

The research also confirmed with additional research that suggests that 70% of hotel guests never make use of the hotel gym or spa. If they’re not using them, perhaps Brits are choosing to spend less on hotels that don’t have these facilities?

However, it’s a different story for Swiss travellers. According to a report by Kayak, 72% of Swiss
travellers will book a luxury hotel.

Beauty Treatments
After a long week at work, pampering is always a good idea! Whether it’s heading to a spa or
impulse buying the newest mascara, how much do Brits spend on beauty each year?

According to research by TotallyMoney.com, the average Brit will spend £4,454 on beautifying
themselves, including haircuts, makeup, gym memberships, clothes and beauty treatments.
However, this figure varies by region as in Leeds, the beauty spend climbs to £7,000 per year, while in London it stands at £6,300, which really surprised me! I’m not one for spending loads on beauty and pampering but I do have a Virgin Active Gym Membership and often have my nail and roots done!

According to 2014 statistics, European consumers spend €129 on cosmetic products per year.
Norway has the highest average cosmetics spend, nearing €250. While these figures seem relatively low, they do not take into account other expenses such as spa and beauty treatments. More recently, it was recorded that the cosmetics industry was the top-performing category in the UK Health and Beauty sector with the sales being up £100m from 2015 to 2017.

The Little Extras
Aside from eating out, enjoying hotel stays and spending money on making ourselves look beautiful, there are a few little extras that add up to big spending over the year too.
Buying clothes, despite it being a popular opinion that women love to shop, recent research in the UK revealed that it was men who spent the most. On average, men spend £100 on clothes, compared to women who spend £74. The survey also showed that men are better at investing in their clothing whereas women have more garments in their wardrobe that they don’t wear. All in all, the average Brit spends £1,042 on clothes each year.

Although streaming entertainment at home is gaining popularity, it seems as though we are still treating ourselves to a trip to the cinema now and then. Globally, in 2015, expenditure at the cinema added up to between £29m and £31m. In the UK in particular, it was found that we only spend around £19 per head annually on the cinema, but apparently it is the high cost of cinema tickets that deters us, which is a big part of why I don’t tend to visit unless it’s something I really want to see and it needs to be on the big screen!