Pubs and brewing company Greene King, a member of the new Top100 listing of the leading companies in Suffolk and Norfolk, has launched a new survey designed provide a regular insight into “discretionary” spending by consumers.

The Greene King Leisure Tracker will focus on spending in areas such as eating out, drinking out, gambling, cinema-going, health and fitness and live events.

Data will be gathered monthly, based on an online, nationally representative sample of around 2,000 individuals aged 18-plus). The first survey, for February, shows a 6% increase in household leisure spending compared with January, from £191 to £203.

Of the £12 increase in spending, £11 came from eating out and drinking out, which represented around two-thirds of the spending measured in the survey.

The increase is thought to have been driven by the impact of the half-term holiday and the gradual recovery of the consumer finances after the festive period.

Greene King commercial director Steve Jebson said: “We are delighted to be launching the first ever Greene King Leisure Tracker. We have been running the data since August 2013 so we have already built up a detailed picture of where and when GB households direct their leisure spending.

“With the economy slowly improving we are confident that this will eventually filter down to the wallets and purses of consumers but we do not believe that is happening yet. This improvement is mainly due to increased family leisure spending during the half-term holidays and households feeling slightly less strapped for cash after their Christmas spending spree when spending peaked at £249.”

Mr Jebson added: “We are confident the Greene King Leisure Tracker will be used by the trade, by the media and by the City as the place to find a timely and thorough overview of Britain’s leisure behaviours.”

The Greene King Leisure Tracker survey forms part of an wider questionnaire run on behalf of Greene King by research partner YouGov and analysed in conjunction with consumer insight and foresight consultancy Trajectory Partnership.

Paul Flatters, chief executive of Trajectory, said: “It is great to see Greene King spearhead the leisure industry by creating the Greene King Leisure Tracker.

“This kind of category leadership shows a true understanding of the importance of consumer behaviour on spending, which not only benefits the leisure trade, but also those involved in reporting it,” he added.