Coronavirus diary, Thursday 7 January 2021

Champagne Christmas for supermarkets

The ghost of Christmas past will haunt us for years, but it was a ghost of good cheer for a fortunate few - Britain’s supermarkets.

They saw sales and profits leap as we drowned our sorrows by taking to drink - champagne. The cork popping was deafening. 

Morrisons, our third biggest supermarket, reports an 81% rise in sales over Christmas, with bubbly and beer sales up 64%.

No wonder it was able to hand back the £274 million it had been granted by the government in business rates relief. Most of the other supermarkets dId the same, with three still hanging on to the bonus: Iceland, the Co-op and Waitrose.

The British arm of the German family owned firm, Aldi, still forging ahead, clocked up a record £1 billion in food and drink sales in Christmas week, including  four and a half million bottles of champagne, wines and beers, 75% up on last year.

Coronavirus was the reason for their Christmas bonanza, with the whole nation embattled, confined to their homes, making the most of a woeful time.

And probably raising a glass for a real champagne Christmas this year. 

This year it's been an ill wind...