City Diary — 25 March

Heaton hops on his bike for pubs

Beautiful South lead singer Paul Heaton is playing gigs at 16 pubs in May and cycling between each of them — in support of the pub. City Diary's author, who is a Heaton fan from his days at Hull University, where Heaton busked on a regular basis, has booked tickets to see him play at the Three Horseshoes, Radnage, in High Wycombe, on Monday 10 May. Owner and chef Simon Crawshay, whose curriculum vitae includes spells at La Gavroche and Chez Nico, was one of 912 hosts that bid to host a Heaton gig. How did he catch Paul's eye? "I've seen the Beautiful South play live at least 30 times," he tells City Diary. "I have been a life-long fan since the '80s when he started out in the Housemartins with Norman Cook."

Evening Standard fans the flames​

Extraordinary article on Enterprise boss Ted Tuppen in the London Evening Standard last week. The newspaper's Simon English was happy to report some of the more absurd stories doing the rounds. He scribbled: "One excitable licensee appears to believe that some years ago Tuppen set fire to the pubs he runs after a lengthy legal dispute between the pair that has never been resolved. Relaxing over a glass of white wine at the Commander, a classy Enterprise pub near Notting Hill, Tuppen seems an unlikely arsonist." For those not in the loop on this piece of daftness, it's a reference to a fire at Fair Pint member Mike Bell's Portobello Gold in Notting Hill way back in 2004. Bell himself politely declined to comment when City Diary called him.

Wilkins' flying visit thwarted​

Among the more unlikely of security threats is Little Gems Country Dining boss Steve Wilkins. The serial pub and restaurant entrepreneur was on a trip organised by our sister magazine Restaurant to Barcelona a fortnight ago. Security at Heathrow airport took an enormous interest in the contents of his wash bag, leaving Wilkins stuck in an interminable limbo. A source tells City Diary: "They left him hanging there for a good 45 minutes not telling him anything. Apparently they were particularly interested in one item that contained peroxide." So long was he left waiting that he actually missed his flight. Oh, the joys of flying.

Enterprise's view on covenants​

Enterprise Inns chief operating officer Simon Townsend was in a reflective mood when tackled about restrictive covenants at the Society of Independent Brewers' annual conference. "We were given a fairly good kicking about this last year so we stopped doing it in June," he told the audience. "Since then we've sold around 250 pubs, and two thirds of those have gone as pubs, the other third has still gone as alternative use. Let the market decide, I think that's what we're now doing."

M&B looks to JDW template​

A few weeks ago, City Diary revealed that Mitchells & Butlers is trialling a new concept, Samuel Cooper Freehouses, at five sites, including venues in Eastbourne and Grimsby. The high-street concept has received visits from a number of industry rivals in the past fortnight. And the verdict? "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery — but it's a lot like Wetherspoon," says one, echoing the consensus.

McManus profits with eclectic pubs​

Northampton-based McManus Pub Company, led by Gary McManus, runs an eclectic estate of pubs, with town-centre venues and destination dining sites in the mix. A source tells City Diary, though, that the company now has no fewer than five venues turning in £350,000 or more in annual profit. Eat your heart out, Mitchells & Butlers, which averages around £220,000 a site profit.

Loose Cannon ready for action​

New microbrewery openings are so commonplace they've almost become the definition of non-news. But there are exceptions. City Diary is prepared to make one for the impending opening of Loose Cannon in Abingdon, on the basis that it's the home of the former Morland brewery, which closed in 2000. Brewer Will Laithwaite, 28, whose family run the UK's largest mail-order wine company, Laithwaites, has been preparing for six years to set up his own microbrewery; he'll have a 15-barrel plant, which will be able to produce more than 20,000 pints a week. He served a three-year apprenticeship at the Rebellion Brewery, in Marlow, Buckinghamshire — and his business is named after his rugby-playing nickname!

Loungers growth defies recession​

One litmus test of a quality strategy during the boom years is whether you're still able to expand during the recessionary dog days. The winner of the Morning Advertiser's 150 multiples club award for Most Impressive Growth last year was West Country cafe-bar chain Loungers. The business, which has a rent to turnover percentage that you can count of the fingers of one hand, opened the Seco Lounge in Plymouth's Royal William Yard last Thursday, and has openings lined up for Bournemouth, Taunton, Cirencester and Birmingham (its second site in the city) for later in the year.

Hutson gets good run for his money ​

JD Wetherspoon chief executive John Hutson is in training for the London Marathon. The furthest he'd ever run before starting his training was seven miles. He's targeting a time of less than four hours and reports that he's given up "wine, chocolate and beer" in favour of pasta and rice. Hutson and his colleagues at JDW are looking to raise £250,000 for cancer charity CLIC Sargent. Even more sporting than this sporting challenge is his willingness to pop on a fetching nurse's uniform in the current edition of Wetherspoon News to publicise the company's fund-raising efforts. City Diary is exercising restraint by not reprinting the picture here.