'Tesco plans to convert dozens of closed pubs into mini-stores'

"Tesco has lodged hundreds of planning applications to cash in on the failure of pubs and rival retailers. Financial Mail has identified ten pubs that the group plans to convert into stores. Tesco submitted all ten applications in the past three months alone, but the total figure is believed to be several times that number. Pubs are particularly attractive to Tesco because they are already licensed to sell food and alcohol, so do not require an application to councils for a change of use." - Mail on Sunday​

"A landlord is running a pub quiz with the ultimate prize — the £600,000 boozer itself. Punters have the chance to win the Plash Inn, with a holiday cottage thrown in, for a £20 entry fee. They must answer four pub-themed questions online and fill in a tie-breaker on why they would be the right person to run it. Boss Steve and wife Christie Goymer, who hope to have 30,000 entries by the June closing date, came up with the idea after failing to sell the pub for seven months because of the slump. The couple need to quit the boozer, in the village of Llanfallteg, West Wales, because they want more time with 20-month-old son Ioan, who has Down's syndrome, and his brother Rhys, six." - The Sun​

"A pub landlord is helping drinkers beat the credit crunch - with a 'bring your own booze' night. Customers pay £5 to get in to The Venue in Corby, Northants - and can take in as much of their own alcohol as they like. Landlord Bip Wetherell hopes they will drink there from 9pm to 2am instead of staying at home on a Saturday night." - Sunday Mirror​

"Rising costs and government plans to increase beer prices will severely hit pubs in rural Scotland, argues Patrick Browne, head of the Scottish Beer & Pub Association. 'Pubs will try to broaden their appeal, to change their demographic beyond their regulars by, say, doing food,' says Browne. 'But in rural areas there may simply not be enough potential customers to be able to absorb the extra overheads. Now the government is about to insist on charging more to bring down alcohol consumption when it's already declining. We have some of the highest drink prices in the world and now we want to charge more.'" - Scotland on Sunday​