What the Sunday papers said...

The Independent On Sunday painted a mixed picture for the prospects of the English and Welsh pub sectors after the smoking bans come into effect in the next few months. Shares in the major pub companies have soared as bosses "seize on the new legislation as an opportunity to rejig their pub portfolios, ditching old 'landlocked' venues…in favour of larger, brighter pubs with outside space to lure back older female customers". But beer sales are expected to follow the slides seen in Ireland and Scotland, which already have bans. - Independent On Sunday​

Shares in Punch Taverns rocketed last week as the market digested rumours that property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz was being tipped as a bidder for the 1,000 or so pubs Punch is looking to sell, reported the Mail On Sunday. He was also being touted as a stake builder in the pubco. One source suggested he could be looking to take over the group in its entirety with private equity backing, while others reckoned Tchenguiz may look to split Punch into a real estate investment trust. - Mail On Sunday​

Whitbread is in "early talks" regarding a £1bn sale of its David Lloyd Leisure business to the son of the fitness chain's founder, according to the Mail On Sunday. Scott Lloyd, who runs the Next Generation fitness clubs and is backed by property tycoons Ian and Richard Livingstone, has made an unsolicited approach to Whitbread about buying back the business his father founded in 1981. - Mail On Sunday​

Iceland group Baugur is looking to buy Brakes, the food distribution giant which has been put up for sale by its private equity backers for £1.2bn, writes the Observer. Baugur, which already owns the number three player in Woodward Foodservice, will become the dominant operator in the market if the deal comes off. Brakes has annual sales of £1.7bn and a 14 per cent market share. - Observer​

Imperial Tobacco is mulling over a revised offer for Spanish rival Altadis, which could meet the target's demands that its senior management be retained and that it remains based in Madrid. The terms of a new offer could see the cutting of up to 900 jobs at Imperial's only UK factory in Nottingham. - Independent On Sunday​

The government has been urged to order an 'urgent' revision of broadcasting guidelines on alcohol amid fears that TV soap operas are fuelling teenage binge-drinking, writes the Sunday Telegraph. Senior doctors have called for references to alcohol on television to be restricted after a report discovered that some soaps dedicate nearly a fifth of screen time to alcohol. - Sunday Telegraph​

Former Home Secretary David Blunkett has taken a post advising a firm which specialises in security and identity technology and which is reported to be interested in bidding to run the UK's controversial identity cards scheme. Blunkett, an advocate of ID cards, began his new role as chairman of Texas-based Entrust Inc's international advisory committee at the beginning of this month. - Sunday Times​

Robert Tchenguiz's talent for squeezing every pound out of property portfolios is eclipsing even his love of the high life, writes the Observer. Tchenguiz's R20 group owns the likes of Laurel Pub Company and is tilting towards making another offer for Mitchells & Butlers, which he believes should convert into a real estate investment trust. He's also taking an interest in supermarket giant Sainsburys, buying a four per cent stake in the group for £400m. - Observer​

Be warned, writes Sunday Times columnist Rod Liddle. Following claims by medical experts that a few pints of lager are more harmful than ecstasy and only slightly less harmful than heroin, "soon the local pub will be a safe, drink-free, smoke-free environment. You won't want to visit it, but if you do it'll be really healthy." The avenues of pleasure are being closed off one by one, writes Liddle. "Thank god heroin is quite cheap these days and the state will provide you with a free substitute when you run out or your dealer has been shot dead," he adds. - Sunday Times​

A doctor was so upset when his local pub shut that he bought it, reports the Sunday Mirror. Cancer specialist Chris Holcombe has reopened the Old Lion Inn at Gwytherin, North Wales, with his brother-in-law running it. "It's going very well," says Mr Holcombe, 49, who works at a Liverpool hospital. "Here was a 400-year-old pub in the middle of the village. It would have been a shame to lose it." - Sunday Mirror​

And finally…

The Sunday Express reveals that drunk drivers caught in town in Poland are being made to wear distorting 'beer goggles' to show them how alcohol affects their vision. The offender has to get into a car driven by a cop and see how hard it is to focus. The paper doesn't say whether this has the desired affect of getting townsfolk to stop drinking and driving, nor whether it improves their love lives… - Sunday Express​