Britain's second biggest pub group is putting up beer prices for 7,500 landlords — by double the rate of inflation. Pubs across the UK may be forced to charge 15p more for a pint just as the recession forces record numbers out of business. Debt-laden Enterprise Inns has told licensees they will have to pay an average six per cent more for almost everything they buy from February 16 - The Sun
A Punch Tavern's pub, The Black Bull Tavern, was shut by police after underage drinkers posed photos of themselves drinking there on the social networking site bebo. Pictures showed teenagers as young as 16 posing with bottles of alcopops at the pub in Kiddington, Oxfordshire and messages boasted they were able to get away with underage drinking there - London Metro
The government is to place a new focus on the countryside, following the publication of a report that shows a migration of businesses from Britain's towns. Internet providers are being encouraged to look at village schools and pubs, with the latter encouraged to take on extra roles as shops, post offices and small business centres under the "Pub is the Hub" scheme - The Guardian
A diving school proprietor was jailed yesterday after swindling £250,000 from the NHS for bogus medical treatment for people he reported had suffered the bends. David Welsh paid strangers whom he met in pubs up to £200 each to pose as divers who needed decompression treatment. Most of the fake victims had never dived and some could not even swim - The Guardian