'Licensee trys to use drink laws to stop supermarkets selling cheap booze'

"A Scottish publican is to attempt to use licensing laws to stop supermarkets selling alcohol at a loss. Jeff Ellis, who runs the Bear Taverns in Newburgh, Fife, believes he can use public health provisions in the Licensing Act 2005 to stop the likes of Tesco selling cheap drink. The challenge is understood to be the first of its kind and comes as Scottish MPs brace themselves for a debate over whether to introduce minimum pricing into law. Ellis argues one of the aims of the licensing act is to protect public health, and he is using a provision in the act for anyone from anywhere to challenge the license at any time." - Scotsman​

Most shops and pubs caught selling alcohol and cigarettes to children go unpunished, it has been revealed. In test purchases by English councils last year, just one in seven places caught selling cigarettes were prosecuted. And only half caught selling booze were ever punished. The findings have led to demands for a crackdown on rogue shopkeepers and landlords. - The Mirror​

"The great thing about the story of the 60 guests who got snowed in over the New Year at the Tan Hill Inn, Britain's highest pub, 1,732ft above sea level in the Yorkshire Dales was that captured the public imagination because of our love affair with the pub… A crackdown on supermarkets advertising cheap alcohol, coupled with lower tax for weaker beer — favoured by both the health select committee and CAMRA, the real ale campaign — could even now turn back the clock and draw people to more civilised drinking, down the pub." - Charles Clover, writing in the Sunday Times​

"Financier Hugh Osmond, the man who helped create Punch Taverns, is returning to the limelight with a new venture. This week he will reveal his intention to float an investment vehicle on the London Stock Exchange. It will be used to front a large takeover deal, potentially worth up to £5bn. Osmond is hoping to raise about £500m for his vehicle, named Horizon, which is targeting big businesses bought in private-equity-backed deals that have turned sour." - Sunday Times​

"Madonna's ex Guy Ritchie is opening a brewery and is even naming a pint after himself... the Bitta Ritchie. The film director already has his own pub, The Punch Bowl in London's Mayfair. Now Ritchie has registered a number of brews as trademarks. As well as Bitta Ritchie others in the pipeline include Punch Bowl Beers, Punch Bowl Ales and Ashcombe Ales, after the Wiltshire mansion he kept after his divorce from Madonna in January last year." - Sunday Mirror​

And finally...

"A pub landlord getting ready to pull his last pint at the age of 87 claims changes to the trade in the last few years have left a bitter taste. Frank Blake is calling time on his 30 years behind the bar at the Station Hotel in Gorseinon near Swansea. He said the smoking ban and cheaper drink available at off-licences and supermarkets were 'killing' the traditional watering hole. He said many of his older customers now preferred to drink at home." - BBC​ News website​