Two High Street chains, Ask pizza restaurants and Walkabout bars, have defied any spending slowdown this year and beaten sales expectations.

Ask, which runs the both the Ask and Zizzi chains of pizza restaurants, has flourished in comparison with rivals such as PizzaExpress, with profits up by more than 25%.

Meanwhile Regent Inns, which runs the Walkabout chain of sports bars and the Jongleurs comedy clubs, has received a welcome boost from the World Cup.

Both groups are now planning further expansion, despite warnings of tough competition on the High Street.

Ask for more

Ask said its low exposure to tourists had contributed to its success.

The company said: "Tourism and eating out, particularly in central London, have not fully recovered from the problems of 2001."

But it said both brands had enough British pizza fans to withstand the slowdown and that sales remained "robust".

In the six months to 30 June, pre-tax profits rose from �5.9m to �7.6m, and the group opened 11 new restaurants to give it a total of 137.

World Cup drinking

Regent Inns was among the pub and bar groups to benefit from the extended drinking hours provided by the World Cup and Six Nations Rugby.

Its sports-led Walkabout chain saw a 17% jump in profits in the year to 6 July, and plans to more than double its number of bars by the end of 2003.

The company is offloading a number of unbranded sites but said sales in its core chains were up 50% in the year.