City Diary — 8 April

Fat M&B pay rise — for bosses only​

New Mitchells & Butlers chairman John Lovering is getting a 175% pay rise to £350,000pa (albeit paid in shares) while other non-execs are likely to see their pay double. Sadly, the same largesse doesn't apply to pub managers, who've had pay frozen until April 2011. An M&B manager drops a note to City Diary: "The new board has decided not to give us a pay rise this year. We are the only ones who actually take any money physically — everybody else sits behind a desk taking big pay rises. Because we don't have a union — M&B doesn't recognise them — we can't go on strike."

Land banking — surely not?​

You don't associate JD Wetherspoon (JDW) with land-banking sites. But there appears to be a bit of that going on. There's one in Otley that JDW doesn't appear to want to develop, but, equally, doesn't want anyone else to develop. And then there's the Old George Hotel in Whittlesey, Cambs, which JDW bought two years ago — and still sits boarded up.

Life after Punch is looking good​

City Diary pops into a pub Punch sold last year and finds proof there is life after the pubco. The refurbished venue is doing very nicely with excellent food. What helps is that the freehold buyer, a top licensee with a few other sites, paid £305,000 for it — a good discount on the £675,000 Punch shelled out for it eight years ago.

A recap of ex-3DE sites for sale​

For those that missed it, a list of 10 sites — eight Chicago Rock Café venues and two other sites — that property agent Colliers CRE is selling in the wake of the 3D Entertainment administration. The eight Chicago Rock sites are in Banbury, Chichester, Colchester, Epsom, Grimsby, Lincoln, Maidenhead and Middlesbrough. An Archaos site in Glasgow and Kestral Xs unit in Cumbernauld are also up for sale.

Once over for takeover sums​

Rather belatedly, Heineken UK has just filed the accounts for its first year of Scottish & Newcastle ownership, 2008. Anyone who has studied the annual accounts of major brewers will know it's an Alice in Wonderland world — it's hard to know what anything actually means. For the record, though, the company had a £1.66bn turnover, but lost £990m before tax compared to £188m the year before.

Here's what they say: "The increased loss is mainly attributable to one-off items. These include losses on the divestment of international assets to Carlsberg following the takeover of S&N by the Heineken/Carlsberg consortium, aligning key accounting estimates with those of Heineken, plus costs and write-downs associated with the planned closure of the Berkshire brewery. In addition, there were increased financing costs following the takeover."

Norfolk nightspot ruffles feathers​

They're a liberal lot in Norfolk. The local nightclub in Cromer, Buddies, has been given a 24-hour licence, on the condition nobody is admitted after 11pm. The predictable result is that local pubs are seeing customers disappearing early to ensure they get in. Lee Shrum, from the King's Head, reports that his pub now starts to empty at 10pm.

Chris Cawley, local authority environmental health manager, has no truck with complaints and has an unusual suggestion for how pubs can compete. "There's a whole range of entertainment out there like large screens to show football matches or films. Some are moving into other forms of live entertainment — including lap dancing." Nice.

Dray day for Marston's profits​

Respect is due to Marston's, which has found itself making a £500,000 cost saving in the wake of the collapse of the £85m-turnover King UK in March last year. King UK supplied the estate with non-food disposables. Quick-witted Marston's got around the collapse by popping the aforementioned items that King was supplying on brewery drays. Nice one.

Enterprise cuts down on reports​

Enterprise Inns revealed that it will no longer provide a pre-close statement to the stock market. The feeling is that the company is having to report on around six different occasions at the moment — and there is isn't enough new to say. "The world has sort of got itself a bit too data-hungry," said chief executive Ted Tuppen, chief executive. "We have got ourselves in a situation as to potentially reporting six times a year, which is sort of ridiculous." Last week's statement was certainly hearing aid beige in its blandness. The move hasn't pleased some in the City-analyst community. "This is not a step in the right direction," said one.

Here's Lenny' ad too scary for kids​

Premier Inns, the Whitbread hotel chain, offers high quality family accommodation. But don't be surprised if the kids are less than keen to stay at one.

The Advertising Standards Agency has ruled that an advert showing Lenny Henry in a parody of the Jack Nicholson axe-wielding scene from Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining shouldn't have been shown on a children's channel. Far too scary.

Not Whitbread's fault though — the advert was shown as a result of a technical error by the broadcaster.

Punch stokes up Flaming format​

One more step has been taken in the Punch managed side's drive to convert hundreds of sites to new formats. Last week, the company opened its first Flaming Grill Pub Company site at the Drawbridge Inn, Solihull. There are rather high hopes for this format, which will remind some of Mitchells & Butlers Sizzling Pub Company brand — the company hopes to open no fewer than 80 of these in the coming years.