Britons will splash out an extra £836million next week as the nation toasts a return to indoor eating and drinking for the first time this year.
Hospitality businesses have reported a surge in bookings and pubs said they expect to serve three million pints on Monday alone.
The milestone will mark a return for 45,000 pubs, with 2,000 still shuttered.
Meanwhile, the renaissance on the high street will also let bosses bring back 865,000 workers from furlough after the 18-week closure.
More than 600,000 jobs have already been lost in the sector, while more than 12,000 venues have been lost since December 2019.
But consumers rushing out to socialise indoors will boost spending to £24.5billion next week. That is £836million more than consumers spent in each of the past five weeks, the Centre for Economics and Business Research said.
CEBR director Doug McWilliams said: ‘The consumer has plenty of money to spend. All the data we’ve already seen has been very positive indeed, and that’s even before the end of lockdown.’