City Diary — 7 October
Grogan caught out by comment
John Grogan, the former MP and chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group, made a welcome return to the pub scene by hosting the debate at last week's Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers' autumn event. He revealed that he'd spent a lot of the summer enjoying cricket at Headingley, where someone in the crowd had spotted him.
Every time he adjourned to the bar to buy himself a pint, the eagle-eyed onlooker would shout: "You can't put that on expenses now." By the end of the season, Grogan reports, the remark had worn out its bearability so he took a more circuitous route to the bar.
Marston's link-up bedding in nicely
Marston's partnership with budget-room provider Travelodge is working nicely. Diary noticed that Marston's has won consent for a 40-bedroom hotel in Blackburn, Lancashire, which will link up with its pub, the Willows, next door.
Cheers, from Molson Coors
Molson Coors has re-launched its Cheers in-house publication. It features a number of great soundbites from its master brewer Steve Wellington: "I started working for Bass in 1965. I actually completed four years' training, but decided that you're more likely to see the best of people in a brewery."
Passionate put into liquidation
Sad to say, Passionate Pub Company, the north-east multiple led by Jan Sowa and chaired by Alistair Arkley, has drawn the curtains and gone into liquidation. The company ran 26 pubs a couple of years ago, but had reduced the estate to seven sites when RBS decided to call in its loan. Six sites have been returned to Enterprise and Mitchells & Butlers has a franchise venue back in its hopper. Arkley tells Diary: "We decided that, going into the winter months, there was no real hope of running the business without incurring further debts.
The liquidator told us it was unusual in that we are one of the few businesses that has come to him that's made a profit." The company has a turnover of around £4m, but lost £400,000 in 2008.
Luminar reveals its new Project
News that nightclub company Luminar is to open its first nightclub in two years is not the start of a capital expenditure surge. The new venue in Norwich, Norfolk, called Project, is being funded out of insurance money. The site originally closed due to structural problems. In May last year, X-Leisure, the site landlords, launched a £20m lawsuit against contractors claiming breach of contract, saying the beams beneath the nightclub were flawed. An out-of-court legal settlement resolved the row, and a legal deal was struck that frees up some cash to re-open the nightclub.
Queen Edith's reign is over
One more pub faces the wrecking ball. Punch Taverns wants to demolish its Queen Edith pub in Wulfstan Way, Cambridge, which is on a good-sized plot, but looks like a prime example of less-than-brilliant 1950s design. There's room, Punch has worked out, for no fewer than eight three and four-bedroom homes in its place. The Punch plan came as a surprise to landlord Paul St John-Campbell. But the company says it took the decision in light of a 44% drop in beer sales over the past five years.
Loungers getting Cosy in Taunton
Whizzy West Country operators Loungers opened its second brand, Cosy Club, in Taunton, Somerset, a few weeks ago. Diary hears it's trading "unbelievably strongly". Diary has argued before now that Loungers' performance is reminiscent of the early years of JD Wetherspoon. Founders Alex Reilley and Alex Bishop are now hunting for sites in Bath, Cirencester, and JDW founder Tim Martin's doorstep in Exeter, Devon.
The Economist notes pubs' plight
The Economist, read by movers and shakers on both sides of the Atlantic, has turned its attention to the plight of the pub. It notes: "Officialdom is beginning to view them more benignly: as linchpins of their neighbourhoods, which help to foster vague but politically fashionable goods such as community spirit and social cohesion.
The Labour government, universally hated by publicans, appointed a 'minister for pubs' a few months before it lost the general election in May. The Conservatives' manifesto gave pubs the status of 'essential services', alongside facilities such as post offices, and promised powers for people to club together to buy boozers threatened with closure."
Keep up, guys. Things have moved on quickly and now the Tories, with Lib Dem allies, plan to come down on pubs like a ton of bricks to counter the social evil pubs represent. It's coming in the form of licensing reform nobody wants or needs.
How a kiss and a candle sparked £40m headache
For those who might have missed it, it's worth recounting how a single candle and a kiss did £40m of damage. Trendy nightclub Sosho and neighbouring members' club The East Room, in Tabernacle Street, Finsbury, central London, both owned by Jonathan Downey, had a combined turnover of £5m before a blaze reduced both to shells in March. Downey said: "It was started by a tea light from Ikea. The waitress was lighting candles at 6pm and a couple in a booth were snogging, so she did the right thing and left them to it. She came back half an hour later, put the light on the table and lit it."
The candles were designed to burn out after eight hours — but the "smooch delay" meant the flame was still smouldering half an hour after Sosho shut at 2am. Downey added: "We just watched it all go up for about 40 minutes."
Old Orleans sites' licenced to grill
Punch's managed division has converted six Old Orleans sites to a new concept, West Coast Grill & Bar. Sites now sport surfboards on the wall rather than Bourbon Street signs — and the colour scheme is sea blue rather than deep red.
And one or two reviews are starting to surface in the blogosphere. Nathan Collins, who describes himself as a 25-year-old cynic and web developer, scores the Cardiff Bay site four out of 10.
"The food was mostly phoned in, better than pub food, but you'd think that as a restaurant they would do more cooking." But he loved the pulled pork: "It literally fell apart with my fork lightly jabbing at it. Moist and succulent, it had all the flavours of the flame grill."
