Despite a mini-heat wave towards the end of the month, mixed weather throughout April kept pub (7.6%) and restaurant (7.2%) growth fairly subdued.
Brits shifted their priorities from the previous month to help give spending on ‘nice-to-haves’ a boost.
Data from Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, shows that non-essential spending rose 3.7% year-on-year.
Paul Lockstone, managing director at Barclaycard, said: “While spending has recovered slightly from the effects of the ‘Beast from the East’, it’s likely we’ve seen some missing expenditure from March carry over to April as the weather finally allowed shoppers to venture back outside.”
Entertainment rose an impressive 7.1%, although it failed to match the double-digit growth seen for much of 2017.