'Lloyds Bank facing £450m loss on Admiral Taverns'

Lloyds Bank will lose an estimated £450m on Admiral Taverns, the pub giant, in what is believed to be one of the biggest write-offs it will be forced to take on a single investment. The group's Bank of Scotland arm had lent more than £850m to Admiral, owner of more than 2,000 pubs, to finance a string of acquisitions. But because of the market downturn, pub values have been slashed. The estate is now thought to be worth less than £500m and the bank is sounding out potential buyers of its debt. - Sunday Times​

More than 50 pubs are shutting every week, according to latest figures. Closures have soared as people switch to drinking cut-price supermarket beer at home. Pub beer sales are at their lowest since the 1930s, and brewers are blaming higher tax and production costs for pushing up prices. A report by industry analyst CGA Strategy says around 2,750 pubs closed last year - almost five per cent of the market. The figures came as MPs demand new laws to make it more difficult for developers to buy up pubs. - The Mirror​

The prospect of developing "man boobs" and a beer belly is failing to put most men off their booze, a survey has found. Warnings that too much alcohol could affect sexual performance were also barely making a dent in drinking habits, it was found. The survey for the Department of Health's Know Your Limits campaign found just 16 per cent of men were worried their drinking would lead to man boobs while just over a quarter, or 27per cent, feared it would lead to getting a beer belly. Only nine per cent thought that excessive drinking was affecting their sexual performance. - Press Association​