Wednesday 21 October to Tuesday 3 November 2026
Was it
just you?
A dead Saturday or a heaving Tuesday usually has a reason. What real trade did against a normal week, the days that caused it, and what the rest of the country reported, so you can tell a quiet room from a quiet city.
What the market actually did
Every bar is a published read of real trade for this window, from national and regional trackers, against what is typical for the time of year. Zero is a normal week. Bars below the line mean the whole market traded down, so a quiet room was not your fault. Where no real number exists, there is no bar; nothing here is modelled or guessed.
A fortnight of two halves. Storm Austen and five wet days in a row landed squarely on the weekend the calendar called biggest: four liners, Oktoberfest, the Diwali Mela and Moulin Rouge's last night all went ahead on Saturday 24 October under 21mm of rain, so the crowd was there but the walk-in and terrace trade was not. Then the weather turned. Seven dry days from 28 October, half-term, and Halloween on a Saturday with Saints beating QPR 4-1 at St Mary's and three liners turning round made 31 October the standout day of the fortnight. The week ahead is settled and dry through Bonfire Night and the Mayflower Park fireworks on Saturday 7 November, with rain returning around 10 and 11 November and no storm or warning in sight. No tracker has yet published trade for these two weeks, so there is no chart this time.
Same week, six different trades
The city average hides more than it shows. The same fortnight treated a beer garden and an indoor curry house like different economies. Find your kind of venue.
| Your kind of venue | The week |
|---|---|
| Pub or bar with a garden Tough week |
Five wet days in a row to 24 October, with Storm Austen gusting to 57mph on the 23rd, shut gardens on the one weekend with real crowds. The dry run from 28 October came with tops of 14 to 16C and dark evenings after the clocks went back, so outside space did little beyond covered and heated areas. |
| Wet-led pub, no garden Good week |
Halloween fell on a Saturday, with a 3pm Saints home win over QPR and a three-ship cruise day the same afternoon, which is about as good as an indoor pub's autumn gets. Nationally, NIQ's drinks tracker had beer up 5.6% and cider up 7.6% in the week to 17 October while spirits fell, so the pint-led trade went into the fortnight in better shape than the cocktail bars. |
| Indoor sit-down restaurant Good week |
Rain moves people from walk-in to booked indoor tables rather than keeping every one at home, and the venue tills this calendar is checked against held up through the storm weekend before a strong dry week and Halloween Saturday. Nationally, managed restaurant groups grew sales 2.6% in September, their best month of 2026 (NIQ RSM tracker). |
| Food-led pub Mixed week |
Half-term week (26 to 30 October) brought daytime family dining, and from the 28th it was dry, but the storm weekend before it hit the Friday and Saturday food trade hard. No segment figures have been published for the window. |
| Takeaway and delivery Mixed week |
Three storm nights from 22 to 24 October are classic delivery weather, but the dry Halloween week then took people out rather than keeping them in. No platform has published figures for the period. |
| Cafe Mixed week |
Four of the first seven mornings were wet, which is what hurts daytime cafe trade most, while the dry half-term days from 28 October brought families into the centre for Westquay on Ice. No segment data has been published for the window. |
What was actually on
| Day | What was on |
|---|---|
| Wed 21 Oct 11.7C, 10.8mm of rain from 3am to 11am, gusts to 41mph |
Moulin Rouge's final week at the Mayflower was the only driver; the rain had cleared by lunch. |
| Thu 22 Oct 15.0C, 16.2mm of rain from 5pm into the night, gusts to 39mph |
Storm Austen arrived with the evening rain, so a quiet Thursday got quieter after work. |
| Fri 23 Oct 12.8C, 23.8mm of rain overnight to 10am and again 1pm to 4pm, gusts to 57mph |
Storm Austen's main day landed on a three-ship cruise day, the first night of Oktoberfest in Guildhall Square and a Michael Jackson tribute at the O2 Guildhall. |
| Sat 24 Oct 15.7C, 21.1mm of rain from 10am to midnight, gusts to 48mph |
The calendar's big call: four liners, Oktoberfest, the Diwali Mela at Bitterne Park and Moulin Rouge's closing night, all under a day-long washout. Saints won 3-2 away at West Ham. |
| Sun 25 Oct 12.6C, dry, gusts to 45mph |
The first dry day after five wet ones, and the clocks went back; windy, but sunny. |
| Mon 26 Oct 16.1C, 6.5mm of rain from 7am to 1pm, gusts to 38mph |
Half-term began with a wet morning; Westquay on Ice was the main family draw. |
| Tue 27 Oct 15.9C, 8.1mm of rain from 2am to 9am, gusts to 44mph |
SIX opened its week at the Mayflower and Deaf Havana played the O2 Guildhall. |
| Wed 28 Oct 15.5C, dry, gusts to 26mph |
Dry half-term midweek with SIX on at the Mayflower. |
| Thu 29 Oct 15.5C, dry, gusts to 16mph |
Calm and dry; a Celine Dion tribute at the O2 Guildhall and SIX at the Mayflower. |
| Fri 30 Oct 15.5C, dry, gusts to 19mph |
A cruise weekend opened with the Bargate market and a live podcast show at the O2 Guildhall. |
| Sat 31 Oct 14.3C, dry, gusts to 15mph |
Halloween on a Saturday: Saints beat QPR 4-1 at St Mary's at 3pm, three liners turned round and SIX closed at the Mayflower. |
| Sun 1 Nov 9.9C, dry, gusts to 18mph |
Cold, grey and dry; a Mayflower one-nighter and the first Diwali menus a week before Diwali itself. |
| Mon 2 Nov 11.2C, dry, gusts to 30mph |
A quiet Monday with a Danny Elfman film-music night at the O2 Guildhall. |
| Tue 3 Nov 12.1C, dry, gusts to 33mph |
The Choir of Man opened its week at the Mayflower. |
And it was not just Southampton
- Budget raises the rates threshold, nothing on VATChancellor John Healey's Budget on 28 October raised the small business rates relief threshold for retail, hospitality and leisure, taking 70,000 more businesses out of business rates; Simply Business notes nothing was announced on VAT thresholds.
- September was the best month of 2026Managed pub, bar and restaurant groups grew like-for-like sales 2.7% in September, restaurants up 2.6% and bars down 1.7%, still just below inflation (NIQ RSM Hospitality Business Tracker, 22 October).
- Drinks flat into October, then a stormNIQ's Daily Drinks Tracker had managed-venue drinks sales down 2.6% in the week to 10 October and up 1.9% the week after, with spirits down 13 to 16%; the trade looked to a Saturday Halloween to lift it, after Storm Austen, the season's first named storm, crossed the south on 23 October (NIQ, ITV).
Compiled 4 November 2026. Sources: https://archive-api.open-meteo.com/v1/archive?latitude=50.9097&longitude=-1.4044 · https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude=50.9097&longitude=-1.4044 · https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton/scores-fixtures/2026-10 · https://www.itv.com/news/2026-10-20/first-named-uk-storm-of-the-season-to-bring-strong-winds-and-rain-this-week · https://www.mayflower.org.uk/whats-on · https://nielseniq.com/global/en/insights/analysis/2026/drinks-sales-flat-in-quiet-start-to-october/ · https://www.rsmuk.com/insights/hospitality-business-tracker/bright-september-gives-hospitality-groups-their-best-growth-of-2026 · https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/business-news/autumn-budget-2026-for-small-business/