Pub and brewing group Greene King has said that a strong Christmas performance was behind a rise in sales as more customers visited pubs for lunch and dinner as opposed to just drinks.

Combined Retail sales were up 67% after 40 weeks benefitting from a 33 week contribution from the Spirit group, which the company purchased last year and 6% growth at Greene King.

The group also reported record sales of £6.8 million on Christmas Day which was led by food and included a record pub trading day of £19,000 at the Farmhouse Inn in Ashton-under-Lyme. Over the Christmas and New Year weeks, Prosecco volumes were up 69% while Premium Gin grew 77%, and at New Year a record 4,447 drinks per minute were sold in the last hour of 2015.

Rooney Anand, chief executive officer, said: "This was another strong performance, with all divisions trading well during the important festive period, and record trading on Christmas Day. The latest Greene King Leisure Spend Tracker shows that, despite varying their choices when eating out, pubs were a major destination for customers. Our positive trading results are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our teams who gave our guests great experiences, with value, service and quality central to our offer.

“I am pleased to report continued progress with the Spirit integration, including encouraging signs from our rebranded trial sites thus far, and continued progress in terms of synergy delivery. Our focus remains on the development and continuous enhancement of our core Greene King  business while successfully integrating Spirit, to create the UK's leading pub company."