'Pub calls time on equine regular'

A Tyneside pub has called time on one of its regular visitors after the premises were refurbished. Peggy, a 12-year-old mare, used to enjoy a pint of beer and a packet of crisps alongside her owner at the Alexandra Hotel in Jarrow. However, she is no longer allowed to prop up the bar following a refit which included new carpets. The horse still accompanies her owner, Peter Dolan, on his trip to the pub but has to stay tethered outside - BBC News​

InBev, the Belgian-Brazilian brewer behind Stella Artois and Beck's, said its shareholders had overwhelmingly voted in favour of the $60 billion (£33 billion) takeover of Anheuser-Busch, the Budweiser maker. It expects to complete the deal by the end of the year - The Times ​

The UK's second biggest pub group said it was offering special concessions to 850 licencees during the current trading conditions. Enterprise Inns, which has around 7,500 tenanted pubs, said the figure had increased in the most recent quarter to the end of September, but it added there were signs the figure was now stabilising. Solihull-based Enterprise said the cost of rent concessions and special discounts amounted to more than £5.5 million in the past six months - Press Association​

Punch Taverns Plc, the UK's largest pub owner, fell 26 per cent to a record low in London trading on speculation the company may be struggling to find tenants for about a fifth of its properties. Punch dropped 41.75 pence to 120.5 pence, its lowest close since the company's 2002 initial public offering. The decline reduced the pub owner's market value to £321m ($580m) - Bloomberg​

Cask ale sales are bucking the wider decline, according to Rule Beertania, a new report, with real volumes down by just 0.3 per cent over the past year compared with an eight per cent fall in the overall beer market - The Times​