What the Sunday papers said

The London borough of Westminster has said it could take seven years for all its pubs to be licensed under the new licensing regime introduced by the government. The council has received 433 applications out of a total 3,600 pubs it covers. Of these, 103 were filled out incorrectly. London's Camden council had received two applications out of 1,700 premises while Chester had received none. The Local Government Association said applications had been "scarily low". - The Business​

A blanket ban on smoking in public places, including pubs and restaurants, will form the core of government health proposals to be unveiled tomorrow. A consultation document on the Health Improvement and Protection Bill will look to see whether an outright ban - rather than earlier proposals which included exemptions for pubs that did not serve food - will be easier and cheaper to impose. Forest, the pro-smoking lobby group, is to mount an advertising campaign to press for pubs to be allowed to have dedicated smoking rooms. - The Observer​

The government has shifted its position on smoking and is now prepared to move towards a complete ban in public places, which would include all pubs and restaurants. The change in position is being pushed by the UK's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, who has compared the ill-effects of tobacco with those of polio. The Conservative party has conceded that an all-out ban is inevitable and has urged the government to take powers to ban smoking if the pub and club industry doesn't do it voluntarily. - Sunday Times​

Blackstone, the US private equity group, is seeking talks with Pernod-Ricard to buy Allied Domecq's restaurant division in the now-likely event that the French drinks giant succeeds in its bid to buy the UK business. Blackstone is believed to have participated in efforts by Constellation Brands in order to buy Allied's restaurant arm, which include Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin Robbins. Constellation withdrew from the race to buy Allied last week. - Sunday Times​

Ministers are preparing a major U-turn which will lead to a total ban on smoking in restaurants, pubs and clubs throughout the country. Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt is believed to be sympathetic to calls by Labour backbenchers to tear up original proposals to exempt from the ban pubs which don't serve food. The new Health Bill was expected to drop exemptions from the ban, affecting 16,500 of England and Wales' 55,000 pubs. - Sunday Telegraph​

The chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, was last night embroiled in a row with the government after criticising its failure to impose a blanket ban on smoking in public places. Sir Liam told reporters last week tobacco should be eradicated from society much as polio had been. The suggestion of a complete ban on smoking in pubs was rejected by a Department of Health spokesman. - Mail On Sunday​

Confidential figures compiled by the BBPA show that in the three months to end of April the volume of beer, ale, lager and stout sold through the on-trade has fallen around four per cent compared with the same period last year. The severity of the downturn means even lager sales, which had been taking a bigger share of the market from ales and stouts, have fallen. Consumers were "pulling their horns in", according to W&DB's Alistair Darby, "but it is too early to say whether this is indicative of a long-term trend. It may be the industry had a duff quarter and will pick up later in the year." - Mail On Sunday​

The UK's growing binge-drinking culture has been blamed for a massive rise in the number of convictions for public disorder. Figures released by the government reveal that the number of men and women found guilty of being drunk and disorderly has risen by almost 10,000 in a decade. More than 25,000 people were convicted in England and Wales for the offence in 2003, up from 16,000 in 1993. - Independent On Sunday​

Following the withdrawal of the consortium led by Constellation Brands from the race to buy Allied Domecq it appears the only hurdle standing in the way of Pernod Ricard's £7.6bn bid are European and US regulators, from whom it must receive approval. - Independent On Sunday​

InBev's decision to buy back 800m Euros' worth of its own shares and those of its Brazilian subsidiary AmBev could be an acknowledgment of the dilutive effect of its recent acquisition spree. The buyback signals a period of greater fiscal restraint under chief executive John Bock, despite the relatively negligble impact on InBev's market capitalisation of Euros 17bn. - The Business​

Private equity company KKR is planning to buy Cadbury-Schweppes' soft drinks business and merge it with Britvic, which it plans to buy from joint owners Intercontinental Hotels, Allied Domecq, Whitbread and PepsiCo International. A private equity specialist says such a deal "would solve all the distribution issues between PepsiCo and Britvic". - Sunday Express​

And finally...

The Carmathenshire-based pub and hotel business of TV actor Neil Morrissey posted a loss of nearly £876,000 last year. Hopes of a turnaround in the enterprise's fortunes depend on attracting more local drinkers, although one noted that "we like our pubs the way they are and not dressed up for fashionable tourists. It might work in London, but this a Welsh village, not Soho." - Mail On Sunday​