City Diary — 6 May

Martin's Cornish credentials​

There's always one place where locals hate to see a JD Wetherspoon venue opening. It's when it plans to take over a functioning cinema. A few years back the residents of Holmfirth in North Yorkshire took to their caster-wheeled bathtubs in protest at the move — and defeated a planning application.

Now the good folk of Padstow, where chef Rick Stein is regarded as a deity, have mobilised against the prospect of Wetherspoon converting the town's iconic Cinedrome building — 1,460 locals signed an petition on Facebook opposing the move. But now founder Tim Martin, who has a holiday home nearby, has calmed the locals by denying the move.

He said: "The selling agents' details for the Padstow cinema were sent to us, but the premises are far too small for our purposes, so we have not actively considered them. As I'm a regular visitor to north Cornwall, including Padstow, for 30 years, and a frequent local surfer, why is Rick Stein so much more popular than me?"

PR Lord could do with own advice​

Public relations maestro Lord Bell was eager to prove to delegates at last week's meeting of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers that PR folk are far from a stuffy lot. He argued that his company Bell Pottinger, now representing Rochdale pensioner Gillian Duffy — the voter Gordon Brown called "bigoted" — is perfect for the job on account of being "extremely skilled at bigotry".

He explained the mission statement at Bell Pottinger: "In exchange for money we'll help anyone." To hammer home the point he said he spent a lot of time watching television "looking for a crisis so I can rush in and earn a large fee". US bosses at Goldman Sachs recently called him to ask him whether he thought their reputation had been tarnished in the wake of claims it profited from the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market. His words of wisdom? "Yes, but it doesn't matter."

Later, he admitted there had been "no earthly reason" why he should have been given a peerage. "I'd been very charming to Mrs Thatcher for 15 years and that was my reward." Mid-way through his presentation, he chortled: "I'm being very indiscreet." You've got to love him, but you worry that he needs good public relations advice.

Edwards puts cat among pigeons​

Corporate advisor Ian Edwards was keen to ruffle a few feathers at last week's Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers meeting. He told delegates that the industry would be better served by focusing on 30,000 great pubs than 50,000. He also had little sympathy for "whingeing tenants". "You've signed a contract — get on with it," he said. And he thinks that once Giles Thorley has departed Punch the company can crack on with selling its managed pubs. "While he's there it's very hard to do something about Spirit."

Joule's harking back to old days​

Joule's Brewery, the new-start brewer and pub operator, has begun a makeover of the Glebe pub in Stoke that places an emphasis on nostalgia. Managing director of Joule's Brewery Steve Nuttall said: "I think it's the way that we see pubs that makes us unique. Something that involves all the community, open fires, real pub music — like jazz and blues, authentic performers like an old guy in the corner with a banjo.

There are loads of JD Wetherspoons, but ultimately they are just a shop that sells beer cheaply. We stock locally brewed pale ale, which is what the Joule's Brewery once used to make. Pubs are one of the last bastions of human contact, and it's important to preserve that."

Ecclestone to be new landlady​

Great to see pub entrepreneurs emerging from all walks of life. Step forward Tamara Ecclestone, model, television presenter and daughter of Formula One maestro Bernie Ecclestone, who has acquired the disused Swag & Tails pub in Knightsbridge. Tamara, who last year earned £400,000 for presenting on Italian television, is "going to be very hands on".

Confused brewery centre serves French fizz​

City Diary feels that Planning Solutions, owner of the new National Brewery Centre, needs to adjust its radar. At a bash last week to celebrate the opening of the centre, bemused guests were handed glasses of, er, Champagne. In a brewery centre. In Burton-on-Trent. Ashen-faced hacks, led by the indomitable Pete Brown and Roger Protz, rushed to the bar and recovered with beakers of draught White Shield.

But there was further confusion. "By gum, this White Shield's in good form," enthused Protz, only to be told by the barman that the lines had got mixed up in the cellar and he'd been drinking the new premium ale, Red Shield. "Red, white or blue, it's better than bloody French fizz," our Rog was heard to say through gnashing teeth.

Dissent brewing in CAMRA ranks as pubco operators challenge newspaper policy

It wasn't all cake and ale at the Campaign for Real Ale's (CAMRA) annual meeting in Douglas last month. The platform received a setback when the members present passed a motion highly critical of the campaign's newspaper What's Brewing.

The motion, by veterans Chris Holmes and Ian Fozard, complained of the lack of volume and quality of news coverage in the paper and they also attacked a decision not to publish letters critical of CAMRA policy.

This is believed to refer in particular to a letter from Tony Brookes, of Head of Steam pub company, complaining about CAMRA's deal with Wetherspoon (JDW) to offer cheap beer tokens to members. But Fozard and Holmes were less fortunate with another motion explicitly condemning the JDW deal. As Fozard and Holmes respectively own Market Town Taverns and Castle Rock pubcos the ale-swillers felt there was just a little special pleading in their attitude.