NewsDigest

Charles Wells Pub Company has bought the Golden Ball Hotel in Boxworth, Cambridgeshire. The property has 11 rooms in addition to the bar and restaurant areas. "The Golden Ball Hotel is a perfect fit within our acquisitions strategy," said Charles Wells Pub Company managing director, Anthony Wallis. "Whilst we are looking to buy pubs with potential, we are particularly focusing our investment on food-led pubs."

Pub giant JD Wetherspoon has been forced to ditch a bid for a large new bar and restaurant in Edinburgh city centre. The company sparked local opposition when it announced plans to open a pub on South Bridge. It had applied for a change of use for the building, which was formerly owned by the clothes store Flip. However, another buyer outbid them for the building. It is now expected to be converted into a delicatessen.

A West Yorkshire pub which once featured Branwell Brontë, brother of the famous literary Brontë sisters, as one of its regulars, has won two top accolades for beer quality. The Fleece Inn at Haworth has won a Beautiful Beer Award and a Cask Marque quality accreditation in quick succession.

Three "golden tickets" are to be hidden inside Christmas crackers in Pitcher & Piano bars across the UK revealing a festive prize - a five-star trip for two to snowy Cracow, Poland. Customers who book a party meal in one of the 27 bars will receive a special cracker for each guest with the chance to win a holiday in a promotion in association with Wyborowa vodka.

Scottish & Newcastle, the UK brewer that is the subject of a takeover bid from Carlsberg and Heineken, is close to agreeing a E200m (£140m) sale of its loss-making French distribution business, according to reports. S&N is said to be involved in final talks to sell Elidis, its troubled French unit, to C10, an independent firm that has a distribution deal in place with InBev. Reports suggest S&N could announce the deal at the same time as its trading update next Tuesday.