The Great British Sunday Roast Index

How We Analysed Mother’s Day Roast Costs Across the UK

Sunday roasts are serious business in the UK. Add Mother’s Day into the mix and suddenly pubs, restaurants and booking systems everywhere are braced for impact.

While everyone has opinions about where you get the best roast, we wanted something more concrete. So we built the Great British Sunday Roast Index: a data-led look at how much a roast dinner actually costs across towns and cities in the UK, and what that says about regional value, behaviour and decision-making.

No fluff. No judgement. Just numbers, patterns and a few raised eyebrows.

Why we looked at Sunday roasts (and why Mother’s Day matters)

Mother’s Day is one of the biggest eating-out moments of the year. Search interest spikes, bookings fill up weeks in advance and families are suddenly comparing menus like it’s a competitive sport.

That makes it a perfect case study for:

• Regional pricing differences
• Consumer decision-making under budget pressure
• How local context affects perceived value

Which, conveniently, are the same things businesses wrestle with every day.

What is the Sunday Roast Index?

The index compares the average cost of a standard Sunday roast across towns and cities in the UK.

Rather than focusing on individual venues or luxury offerings, the aim is to show:

• Typical prices families are likely to pay
• Regional differences in value
• How location influences consumer choice

It’s designed as a living index, updated for key seasonal moments such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Christmas.

Key findings (2026)

Most expensive places for a Sunday roast

• Manchester: around £28.50
• London: high £20s
• Edinburgh and St Albans: consistently among the most expensive in the index

Best value towns and cities

• Barnsley: around £12
• Scunthorpe: around £12
• Middlesbrough: around £12
• Hull, Hartlepool and Doncaster: under £15

The middle ground

• Bristol
• Bath
• Cardiff
• Leeds

These locations typically fall between £22 and £25, offering a balance between price and “special occasion” experience.

What the data shows

Big cities come with big price tags

At the top end of the scale, major cities dominate, with Manchester emerging as the most expensive place for a Sunday roast, averaging around £28.50 per person.

London, Edinburgh and St Albans aren’t far behind, all comfortably sitting in the high-£20s. For a family of four, that quickly turns a “nice Sunday lunch” into a triple-digit outing before drinks or dessert even enter the chat.

The best value is further north (and not shouting about it)

Some of the most affordable roasts in the country are found in towns across the North and Midlands.

Barnsley, Scunthorpe and Middlesbrough all come in at around £12 per head, with Hull, Hartlepool and Doncaster also delivering strong value under £15.

Same roast concept. Very different bill.

The sensible middle ground

Cities such as Bristol, Bath, Cardiff and Leeds fall into a more moderate bracket, typically between £22 and £25. These places balance “special occasion” energy with prices that don’t overshadow the celebration itself.

What surprised us most

• The size of the gap between the most and least expensive locations, more than double in some cases
• How consistently good value clusters regionally
• How little correlation there is between price and portion size

The cost of living crisis

People aren’t just spending less; they’re spending more deliberately.

For occasions like Mother’s Day, families are weighing:

• Value versus experience
• Location versus convenience
• Reputation versus price

That decision-making mirrors how people behave online every day: comparing, researching, checking reviews, and choosing the option that feels right for them.

Which is exactly why local data matters.

Why we built this index at Koozai

At Koozai, we spend our days analysing how people search, compare and decide, whether that’s choosing a marketing partner or booking a table for Sunday lunch.

This index is a simple example of how:

• Raw data becomes insight
• Insight becomes a story
• Stories help people make better decisions

A great Mother’s Day roast doesn’t require the most expensive postcode, just the right one.

Sometimes the smartest choice isn’t spending more. It’s knowing where value actually lives.

Full details of the averages by town are in the table below.

Methodology

Google was used to identify restaurants offering Sunday roasts across 50 different towns. From each town, two restaurants were selected at random to avoid bias towards any particular venue, chain, or price point. This resulted in a total sample of 100 restaurants.

For each restaurant, the Sunday roast menu was reviewed and the price of a beef Sunday roast was recorded. Where a single-course beef roast price was listed, that figure was used directly.

Where restaurants offered a fixed-price menu covering multiple courses, an adjustment was made to isolate the cost of the roast itself. This was done by subtracting the incremental price of an additional course. For example: If two courses were priced at £22.95 and three courses at £25.95, the £3.00 difference was treated as the value of one extra course. That amount was subtracted from the two-course price to estimate the cost of the roast as a single course (£19.95 in this example). This adjustment was applied consistently across all multi-course menus, ensuring like-for-like comparisons.

All prices therefore represent the estimated cost of one course only, specifically a beef Sunday roast, allowing meaningful comparison across restaurants with different menu formats.