More recently, big artists like Beyonce and Taylor Swift with young fanbases have sold out stadiums with tickets of priced at £100+. Meanwhile, millions have flocked to cinemas to see Barbie and Oppenheimer.
Joe Staton of GFK, which measures how confident households feel about their finances, jobs and the wider economy, admits he is taken aback by how strong sentiment has been.
“I’m still amazed that it hasn’t fallen off a cliff to tell you the truth,” he says of consumer confidence.
Consumers are still gloomy on balance. But following the shock of the Truss mini-Budget and its aftermath they became more cheerful nearly every month – until early summer.
Even now, when asked whether they think their finances will improve or worsen in a year, it is only a slim majority of households who believe things will get worse.
But unlike during other crises, unemployment has remained near record lows, having only just edged up to 4pc from a low point of 3.5pc.
“I think people are feeling pretty secure in their jobs despite a slight uptick in the unemployment numbers,” Staton says. “When we’re secure, we feel confident and when we feel confident we spend. I think it’s as simple as that.”
The strength of the economy took analysts by surprise when it emerged it grew by 0.5pc in June – far ahead of expectations.
Under the bonnet, the figures revealed strong household consumption, and hotels and restaurants saw healthy demand.
“Compared to January if you’d have said to me that inflation would have would have come down as slowly as it has, and interest rates would be at 5.25pc and demand would still be as strong as it is, I definitely would have been surprised,” says Elizabeth Martins, head of economics at HSBC.
“On the other hand, we see the evidence with our own eyes and ears around us. You go out to try and get a table for Sunday lunch without a reservation or go to the airport and see who’s going on holiday.”
It’s a far cry from the financial crisis when restaurants were “all doing two-for-one offers to try and drag people back in to spend some money”, she says.
Ruth Gregory of Capital Economics says there are several reasons why the economy “has been resilient to the twin drags of high interest rates”.
“Businesses have found it quite hard to source workers during the pandemic. They’ve paid higher wages to attract, retain and attract workers. The Government handouts to help households with their utility bills [also] played a part in supporting households’ real incomes,” she says.
“So households’ real incomes haven’t fallen as far as many had feared. There also seems to be some some some signs that households perhaps have supported their real spending by using the pandemic savings that they amassed.”
Another factor many analysts point to is the catch-up effect of the pandemic. People were bored, spent little money and many built up a lot of savings.
That pent-up energy and eagerness to make up for lost time is likely driving some behaviour – a bit like the roaring 20s.
“I still think we’re recovering from lockdown. People who’ve got savings are actually spending their savings although there is a cost of living crisis going on. It’s very polarising,” Staton says.
“There are some people who are suffering and some people it hasn’t really touched at all. I think the people who have been barely touched are keeping the wheels going.”
This is echoed by Martins, who says those on low income have found the past two years “really painful”.
“But for the remainder of the population to varying degrees, it feels like people have been able to absorb a number of shocks.”
Yet warning signs are starting to flash. Retail sales, which in value terms have held up well, were glum in July, figures from the British Retail Consortium show.
Such figures suggest that many may now be depleting their Covid excess savings.
Meanwhile, Britons ramped up their unsecured borrowing, which includes things like overdrafts, credit cards and payday loans, to its highest level in five years in July.
Consumer confidence also turned in July, weakening for the first time this year.
How households have fared from the cost of living crisis may be the tale of two groups – those on low incomes being hit from every direction – and the remainder still relishing the chance to live normally, splurging on travel, meals out and experiences.
The UK’s largest pawnbroker H&T earlier this week posted a 31pc increase in profits in the first half of the year.
The firm, which also retails new and used jewellery, said the jump reflected the struggles many people are facing in getting by.
“We anticipate continued strong demand for our core pawnbroking product as the impact of inflation on the consumer increases the need for small-sum, short term loans,” it said.
Debt advice charity StepChange has also seen a 13pc rise in clients in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2022.
The people it helps are more indebted than previously, with the average debts up by a quarter in a year.
Even as the clients’ salaries had on average risen by 9pc over the same time, a third found themselves without enough money to cover essentials after receiving full debt advice.
Rising interest rates – which cool inflation by raising unemployment and limiting people’s ability to spend by making mortgages more expensive – also take time to bite.
These indicators suggest there could be more trouble ahead. Economists often fail to forecast recessions in time, Martins admits.
“I don’t want to underplay the risks that it does end in tears,” she says and adds that she is worried about rents, public finances and the lag of interest rates.
“It’s just whether all these things together are big enough to cause a recession and a big spike in unemployment or whether we can continue to surprise everyone to the upside.”
