Lager ladies show 'real passion'
Coors is working hard on upping the appeal of lager for ladies. But here are a couple of ladies who may have the inside track. Hilary Jones, a former brewer for Newcastle Brown Ale, Foster's, Kronenbourg and McEwan's, has invested in a minority shareholding in West, the Glasgow Green-based lager-brewing independent brewery. Jones first came across West last year when, in her role as president of the European Brewery Convention, she visited the brewery, fell in love with it and its lagers and was immediately convinced of its major growth potential. West's managing director Petra Wetzel said: "She has a real passion for the brewery and, given her extensive experience and network within the brewing industry, is a tremendous asset."
Wetherspoon's birthday memories
The JD Wetherspoon mob are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year. Tim Martin opened his first pub on 9 December 1979. He tells City Diary: "I stayed
the previous night in
the flat above the pub.
I couldn't open the pub door to let the cleaner in. I called the locksmith and eventually opened up late with a few beers uncleaned. Bad day. Things went on in the same vein for a number of years."
McMullen takes energy broadside
Hertford brewer McMullen provides a powerful insight into how energy prices have become one of the most painful cost pressures on a business of any size. The company defied gravity in its most recent year by reporting a tick-up in profits of 11% to £8.1m. It was achieved by spending less on property repairs as a one-off and reducing its net debt by selling off surplus properties, producing an exceptional profit of £1.75m. But energy-cost rises proved a nasty shock. It managed to negotiate a 20% reduction in costs up to last summer, and then got broad-sided by a whopping 70% increase in gas and electricity tariffs, adding a chunky £900,000 to it energy costs this year.
Website tied up in confusion
Interactive Investor, the UK's online financial services provider, may need to bone up on how things work in the pub trade. It told readers: "Proposals by the Parliament's Business and Enterprise Committee for the Competition Commission to investigate the tied arrangements in place across over half the industry have ruffled feathers within the sector." But showing a degree of confusion, it added: "Today sees the first of the pub firms to report this week, with JD Wetherspoon afforded the initial opportunity to defend the tied-house model." It would be a first for founder Tim Martin.
S&NPE wants to pick hosts brains
Good to see Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises thinking outside the box. It's currently working on a range of off-the-shelf alternative income packages for hard-pressed licensees. It's calling on licensees to offer up their premises for trialling ideas — and, sensibly, asking its licensees whether they have ideas of their own. Contact Bar Boosters on 0131 514 1020 or email info@barboosters.co.uk, if you're an S&NPE licensee with a whizzy idea.
Auction market alive and well
The public auction market is alive and well. In June, there were 145 auctions held in the UK with a total of 2,687 lots offered and 1,908 sold, a success rate of 71%. The total realised was £232.35m. Is it time for a comeback from London & Edinburgh Swallow Group auction maestro Alan Bowes?
Shameless star shamed over pub
No luck for star of Shameless Jody Latham, who has been forced to close his Punch pub after health and safety, er, hiccups. Officials found side doors open exposing rusty nails and dangling live wires, while rubbish spilled from bins at the Victoria, Barrowford, which Latham, who appeared in Hell's Kitchen, took over last year. The fire service also issued a breaches notice.
Thwaites defends restrictive sales
Thwaites is the latest tenanted pub company on the receiving end of criticisms for selling pubs with restrictive covenants. Two Blackburn pubs, the Gibraltar Hotel, in Gibraltar Street, and the Sportsmans Arms, in Shear Brow, have covenants attached to them as they hit the market. East Lancashire's Camra branch chairman John Ingham puts his kicking boots on, telling the local newspaper: "If Thwaites can't make a success of the pub then we would rather someone else is given the chance." But Andrew Buchanan, director of pub operations at Thwaites, said the move was to protect other pubs in the area. He said: "We can confirm that we are looking into selling the Sportsmans Arms and Gibraltar pubs in Blackburn with restricted covenants, to protect the viability of all remaining pubs in the area."
M&B picks up Globe site
Mitchells & Butlers has been busy bedding down its latest batch of 44 Whitbread pubs. But it's still picking up the odd individual acquisition or two. The Inn at Maybury Hill, near Woking, has been open for a few months now — but was acquired by M&B out of the troubled Globe Pub Company estate, of all places.
Noise laws claim another victim
Here's an unfortunate casualty of modern planning laws. A pub may have existed for centuries, but when new houses or flats are built next door woe betide you. Take Enterprise's Cooperage on Newcastle's Quayside, which has fallen victim to the noise police. It's an ancient building, which has stood by the River Tyne since before Shakespeare's time. Problems arose when flats were built next door and residents began to lodge noise complaints about the pub's acoustic nights. Planners demanded unaffordable sound-proofing, forcing the pub to close its doors. Shame.