A taste for traditional beer and eating out delivered a strong Christmas performance for Midland brewing and pubs group Marston’s, it revealed today.

As it piled on the sales figures, the Wolverhampton-based company said that it was forging ahead with its plans to build 25 new pubs this year and create 1,000 new jobs every year.

Sales at its 500 managed pubs were up five per cent on last year in the 16 weeks to January 21, with sales of food increasing slightly faster than alcohol.

That increase got faster more recently, with sales up seven per cent in the last eight weeks.

Across its 1,650 leased and tenanted pubs, profits were up three per cent over the 16 weeks, and up four per cent in the last eight.

The company says this is partly because of the new franchise agreement it has set up at 360 of its pubs.

Beers, such as Banks’s, made at the Park Brewery in Wolverhampton and Pedigree made at Burton upon Trent, helped Marston’s beat the struggling UK beer market, increasing volumes by two per cent compared to last year.

Speaking before the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting at the Banks’s Stadium at Bescot today, Marston’s boss Ralph Findlay said: “Trading has been strong, reflecting the excellent quality food, service and value which we offer our customers.

“We have a robust strategy in place, aligned to today’s trading environment and continue to make good progress on our new build programme, creating around 1,000 new jobs in 2012 and each year thereafter.”

Looking ahead, the company said it was expecting the “challenging consumer environment experienced in 2011” to remain in 2012.

But Marston’s said it was positioned to make progress this year. It will announce its half-year profit figures on March 14.

Talking to the Express & Star at Christmas, Mr Findlay predicted the company would create around 3,000 jobs over the next two years as the UK retained its appetite for eating out on a budget.