WH Brakspear, the pubco based in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, is to part company with its operations director David Queen as part of a re-organisation resulting in six redundancies. The re-organisation will see greater use of local building contractors, "enabling the business to cope more effectively with its enlarged geography". The redundancies affect maintenance, pub operations and support functions.
Ever So Sensible Bars, the Nottingham-based bar group, has opened its fourth Dogma bar. The latest site, in Castle Street, Reading, Berkshire, opened its doors at the weekend. The £850,000 refit of a former chapel comprises a luxurious ground-floor bar and a first-floor dance room and bar, with a total capacity of 550.
Orchid Group, the company set up by private-equity firm GI Partners to run 290 former Spirit pubs, plans to open Fuzzy Ed's, a child-friendly dining concept, at 19 sites this year. Four sites will open by early May - in Middlewich, Cheshire; Grantham, Lincs; Paisley, Renfrewshire, and Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, with 15 more sites planned this year. Commercial director Simon Dodd said: "Fuzzy Ed's Fun House aims to educate and stimulate children through entertainment."
Coronation Street actress and real-life pub-owner Beverley Callard is fronting a campaign to urge northern English pubs to recycle glass. The "Have You Got the Bottle?" campaign encourages more than 17,000 licensed premises to recycle. Callard - who plays barmaid Liz MacDonald and is the licensee of the White Horse in Eccles, Greater Manchester - will promote the new campaign from the end of May.
Former Asda chief executive Archie Norman is believed to be considering a £1.3bn bid for food distributor Brakes. The Times claims Norman is close to securing private-equity backing for his bid for the pub industry's leading food supplier, which was placed on the market at the end of March.xxxxxxxxxxxxx