If finances are tight, then simply continuing as though nothing is happening only makes the situation worse. The cutbacks don’t have to last forever, but people seem to be reluctant to make any changes to their lifestyle or material assets at all.
Overall, people are making changes. Here’s some fact rather than opinion:
You judging the state of the nation by casual glances at the number of folk in a pub or burger joint at a particular moment in time is as unreliable and pointless a method as me judging it by the number of tourists packing out my home city of York during August.