What the Sunday papers said

High Street sales fell for a sixth consecutive month in August, according to the British Retail Consortium-KPMG sales monitor. Like-for-like sales fell by more than one per cent in August compared with a year earlier, the first time in the 10 year history of the monitor that sales have fallen for six months in a row. - Sunday Times​

Changes to licensing legislation were drawn up over boozy lunches at the headquarters of the alcohol industry, according to the Mail On Sunday. The British Beer & Pub Association hosted government summits at its offices at which details of the controversial measures were decided in the presence of senior civil servants. - Mail On Sunday​

Pub and retailer groups have branded the government's Anti-Disorder Zones as unworkable. The BBPA and the British Retail Consortium are two of 11 bodies which claim the ADZ's will discriminate against law-abiding businesses and will prove almost impossible to set up and maintain. - Sunday Telegraph​

Leading liver expert Professor Roger Williams has joined other senior medical figures in condemning the government's incoming licensing legislation. Professor Williams, director of the Institute of Hepatology, University College, London, said his main concern was the prospect of seeing more young people live's, particularly women's, ruined by binge-drinking. - The Observer​

Residents attempting to block pubs opening longer face costly legal bills when they take their fight to the courts. Barely one in 20 applications for longer hours are being rejected in some areas, while in other parts of the country only one in 10 are being given the green light. Shadow Culture Secretary Theresa May said the licensing act could become a "lawyer's paradise". - Sunday Express​

Karen Jones, head of Spirit Group, is at war with some of the company's private equity backers over its future. Ms Jones is understood to have held "fraught" discussions with shareholders in recent weeks over the direction of the group. Some shareholders are calling for the group to be broken up while observers note that Spirit's complicated financial structure has made an outright sale difficult. - Sunday Times​

Private equity group Carlyle is emerging as the favourite to buy Cadbury Schweppes' European soft drinks business. Cadbury will use the proceeds to pay off some of its £4.3bn of debt. - Sunday Express​

Pub owner/operator and property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz is favourite to buy the Somerfield supermarket chain. City sources expect him to make a formal bid for the group this week. - Observer​

Diageo's announcement that it is to double its share buyback programme from £710m to $1.4bn has been well received by shareholders. The buyback, which was expected, came as the group revealed results which saw pre-tax profits of £1.82bn for the year to June 30, down from £1.97bn. - The Business​

A smoking ban could cost thousands of jobs, according to a leading trade union. The Tobacco Workers' Association, which represents around 7,000 employees, warned in a consultation document on the government's smoking White Paper that jobs could go if producers moved production outside the UK. - Independent On Sunday​

And finally...

Analyst Matthew Simmons, who warns that the boom in oil production is nearing its end, says pricing the black stuff by the barrel is a waste of time. Far better to price it by the pint, he says, which works out at around 18 cents a pop. "Anyone who thinks oil is expensive needs to get their head on straight. 18 cents is cheaper than any other liquid in the world," he says. - The Business​