Britain’s rip-roaring pandemic recovery has been anything but

Data from Kantar indicates a slow recovery for some of the worst-hit sectors. Confidence remains thin as the Delta variant continues to cast a pall over the country, writes James Moore

Visits to clothes stores still lag far behind pre-pandemic norms (PA)

What was rather tastelessly described as “freedom day” hasn’t exactly led to a roaring recovery in the sectors worst hit by the pandemic.

Data specialist Kantar found a quarter of a million trips a day have been made to pubs and bars since the end of July, which may sound good but isn’t actually much of an improvement when compared to June, during which time pubs were open but with some restrictions (remember, the walls only fully came down on 19 July).

The numbers are, Kantar says, also down 24 per cent when compared to an average day in August 2019. August 2019 sometimes seems as if it was 20 rather than two years ago.