'Pubs endure stale taste of failure'

It's not easy being a pub owner. Drinking den insolvencies may be down nearly a third from their peak last year, but circumstances are conspiring against the industry, which threaten to push the rate of pub failures to a new high, a report warned yesterday. There were 60 pub insolvencies in the second quarter of this year, down from the peak of 88 in the final three months of 2009, according to the report by PricewaterhouseCoopers - Daily Mail​

Officers who confiscate booze from teenagers then pour it down the drain are breaking the law. The Environment Agency says the action is polluting waterways because alcohol is poisonous - and offenders face a £50,000 maximum fine or 12 months in prison. Police have tipped thousands of litres of booze down drains to teach under-age drinkers a lesson since the Confiscation of Alcohol Act came into effect in 1997 - The Mirror​

A church has trebled the size of its congregation after holding services in the pub next door. Holy Trinity in Woolstone, near Milton Keynes, boasts 30 followes since switching some gatherings to the Cross Keys. "We thought we should take the church to the local people," said the Rev James Whysall - Metro​

The deepest recession in Britain's post-war history was even more severe than previously feared, the government said today. Fresh information collected by the Office for National Statistics showed that the peak to trough decline in output was 6.4% of gross domestic product rather than the original 6.2% estimate. The new figures confirmed that the six successive quarters of negative growth from spring 2008 until autumn 2009 were the toughest for the economy since the Great Depression of the 1930s, harsher even than the slump of the early 1980s - The Guardian​

Broccoli has been hailed as a 'superfood' after several studies suggested it had anti-cancer properties. Now scientists have identified a chemical in the vegetable which interact with genes involved in cancer development - The Telegraph ​

A Nottingham pub whose staff served underage drinkers alcohol has had its alcohol licence suspended for the coming weekend. Bar staff at Ye Olde Bridge Inn in Nottingham Road in Oxton twice sold alcohol to youngsters and now a formal notice has been issued, police said. A 16-year-old was sent to the pub on a test purchase in March and three weeks later a 15-year-old was served - BBC​