City Diary — 15 April
M&B pay: not what it seems
Last week, City Diary reported that Mitchells & Butlers managers were less than happy to have pay frozen until April 2011 as non-executives chalk up sizeable pay increases. Sources report that managers did in fact receive a healthy 2% last year. And the pay freeze doesn't affect those taking on new responsibilities or getting promoted, who will get uplifts in the usual fashion. M&B sources say this includes new chairman John Lovering, whose earnings rise from £200,000 to £350,000 on the basis that he is a "fully- engaged chairman". "He did the strategic review that cost £12m last time around," the M&B source points out.
Silver screen revival bid
Belt-tightening at nightclub company Luminar seems to include offloading unwanted property. The company is selling the Odeon cinema on Church Street in Preston. Locals want the town's last traditional cinema saved as a, er, cinema. Local conservation volunteer James Crompton has launched a campaign to try to rescue the traditional two-screen complex and reopen it as an independent cinema and arts centre. The Former Odeon (New Vic) Action Group Preston on Facebook now has 230 members.
Toby reflects on roast favourites
Surprising how much free publicity you can garner with the offer of a few roast potatoes. The Toby Carvery brand has teamed up with the Daily Mirror to get readers to vote for their favourite roast dinner item in the Great British Roast Debate. The head-turning prize is a "Month of Sundays": 31 free meals at Toby Carvery. "Voting couldn't be easier," the Daily Mirror tells its readers. "Just visit www.mirror.co.uk/roast"
Toby and M&S in deadly Face off
And talking of Toby Carvery, Mitchells & Butlers sources tell City Diary that there's a deadly battle going on between Toby Carvery and, er, Marks & Spencer. The battleground is over the number of Facebook fans the two brands have. Toby Carvery is around the 100,000 mark while Marks & Spencer has a small lead on 109,000.
London's lease-led demise
Pubco London Town went into administration in February. City Diary hears its demise became inevitable when assigned leases began to bounce back with London Town required to settle unpaid rent bills through privity of contract. Three leases came back (two Wellington Pub Company, one Enterprise Inns) with rent bills of £40,000 or so, with another 52 potential bouncebacks in the pipeline. Hard to attract fresh investment in these circumstances, isn't it?
Light on the southern horizon
Good news on leasehold premiums. A pub operator tells City Diary he's close to securing a £500,000 premium on a free-of-tie lease in the Home Counties. Is the pub property market turning a corner?
H&W to splash out £3m in Bath
Here's an important one we all missed. Dorset brewery Hall & Woodhouse finally won planning consent a couple of months ago to convert the former Bonhams auction house in Bath into a bar, brasserie and restaurant called the Olive Branch, despite opposition from local residents. The development will cost Hall & Woodhouse £3m — it's the largest single pub investment ever made by the Dorset brewers.
Devey gets down to business
City Diary has been rapt watching Channel Five's Hilary Devey — The Business Inspector — visiting businesses and setting them straight. She is the self-made founder of Pell-ex, a £100m turnover business that distributes pallets countrywide. Not much of a surprise, given Devey's work ethic, to discover her background is in the licensed trade — she's a licensee's daughter from Bolton, Lancs. Devey and her two elder brothers were expected to help in the pub at weekends and holidays. "I was taught: you work, you earn, you improve your life."
Mandy's handy at Fair Pint meeting
Controversy rages over a "meeting" between Fair Pinters Mark Dodds, Nicky Francey and Steve Corbett and business minister Peter Mandelson. Some say this was not a formal meeting and Lord Mandelson was simply pictured at a political rally Harriet Harman held at Dodds' Sun & Doves pub. One source insists there is a "glaring give-away that the whole tale is fictitious", and adds: "The crucial evidence is Mandy's left hand on Nicky Francey's shoulder. Mandelson would never have posed in that extremely informal way for a record of a business meeting. It is obviously a social encounter."
Chilly reception for Tchenguiz duo's claims against failed Icelandic bank
Pub entrepreneur Robert Tchenguiz, left, and his brother Vincent are like the proverbial dogs with bones. The pair are set to launch legal actions in Iceland against the rump of failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing after their claims to be owed more than £2bn were flatly rejected a couple of weeks ago. Robert is claiming that he is owed 127bn Icelandic krónur (£659m), mostly due to the losses incurred when his shares in various British businesses, including Mitchells & Butlers, were seized and sold by Kaupthing. But the Icelandic government-appointed resolution committee, which is in charge of the affairs of the bankrupt Kaupthing, dismissed the claims.
Hard to see Robert and Vincent getting anywhere with this claim, isn't it?
