Finance: Tough choices
03-Mar-2005
Smoking or food? If it comes down to it, you will need the right tools to make the decision, writes profitability expert Colin Marsters.Licensees...
Time to ACT!: Get the most out of the Act
03-Mar-2005
The Publican has teamed up with the BBPA and the BII to bring you Time To ACT!, offering guidance on the new licensing regime. This first article...
What companies told the pubco inquiry:
03-Mar-2005
The pubcos have married monopoly of supply and its attendant price iniquities to a system of leases and rent reviews which are disadvantageous to the...
Tide now favours McQuater MBO at Barracuda
03-Mar-2005
Barracuda chief executive Mark McQuater is hoping to lead a management buyout at the company after its owner, PPM Ventures, prepares to exit the...
The good toff's guide
03-Mar-2005
Michael Turner and Anthony Fuller were at Eton, Mark Woodhouse at Marlborough, and Jonathan Neame at Harrow. But a book just out shows many public...
Licensees have grown dizzy over the years trying to keep tra
03-Mar-2005
But if anyone's given up on trying to make sense of it all, now's the time to take note again. For the news this week that SFI is up for sale, as...
Licensees to be hit bySky double whammy
03-Mar-2005
by Tony Halstead Pubs are to be hit with a double whammy price increase by Sky from August. The broadcaster has revealed it will combine new...
From public school to public house via the army
03-Mar-2005
"I think running a pub is a natural progression for many ex-public schoolboys," says Andrew Freeland or Fruity to his friends and regulars at the...
All eyes are on the sale of beleaguered SFI
03-Mar-2005
Slug & Lettuce operator SFI Group has been put up for sale, the Morning Advertiser has learnt. The company has set a deadline of mid-March for...
A marriage made
03-Mar-2005
Stag and hen parties can bring a real boost to trade, but how do pubs handle the potential binge-drinking problems and is the extra business worth...
Hours is not to reason why
03-Mar-2005
Phil Dixon marvels at the capacity of the chief constables of Great Britain to back track Now I do love my telly. The Midlands LVAs gave it to me...
BII gives full backing to Pub is the Hub campaign'
03-Mar-2005
The British Institute of Innkeeping the professional body for the licensed retail sector has been in full support of the Pub is the Hub...
A round with The Publican
02-Mar-2005
What made the news in The Publican this week 10 years ago, five years ago and last year.1995Licensees in Greater Manchester claim they are being...
Scottish licensees form political party to fight smoke ban
02-Mar-2005
Licensees in Scotland are so angry at government plans to ban smoking in pubs that they have decided to form their own political party.Two licensees...
Brains hits the £100m mark
02-Mar-2005
A heady mix of rugby, beer and fervently patriotic Welsh pub goers have driven SA Brain's turnover past £100m for the first time.The Cardiff-based...
Regulars fight plans to turn local into housing
01-Mar-2005
The regulars of a Yorkshire pub are fighting plans to turn their local into residential housing and intend to battle it out with the local...
Frederic Robinson to cover pubs' costs for new regime
28-Feb-2005
Family brewer Frederic Robinson is paying the legal and licensing costs for all its 408 pubs to switch over to the new licensing regime.The...
What the Sunday papers said…
28-Feb-2005
Barracuda Group, owner of the Varsity and Smith & Jones bar chains, may be the latest leisure industry firm to change hands after its owner...
Minimum wage to break £5 barrier
25-Feb-2005
Pubs will be forced to pay workers a minimum of more than £5 an hour for the first time from this October.Trade and industry secretary Patricia...
Receivers take helm at 46-strong letting' firm
24-Feb-2005
by The PMA Team Barber Letting, a multiple lessee that held 46 pubs with two major pub companies, has gone into receivership. The Barnsley-based...
Seizing the Laurel crown
24-Feb-2005
Laurel Pub Company is now owned byproperty tycoon Robert Tchenguiz. The PMA Team meets new chief executive Julian Sargeson, who will imminently...
Ringing the changes
24-Feb-2005
Although it is Britain's oldest brewery, Shepherd Neame retains a modern image. Andrew Catchpole reports.Jonathan Neame is not short of an opinion or...
Licensees set up new pressure groups
24-Feb-2005
Frustrated licensees are so fed up with the raw deal they are being handed by the government and pub companies that they have decided to fight...
Licensee to go to court to save noisy pet cockerel
24-Feb-2005
The licensee of a Kent pub could be fined £20,000 by his local council if he fails to stop his pet cockerel from crowing.Peter Palmer, who runs the...
40 firefighters tackle pub blaze
24-Feb-2005
More than 40 firefighters were called to tackle a fire at a 16th-century pub in Tonbridge, Kent, on Monday. Fire teams suspect the blaze at the...
Entire GK estate to joinPubwatch by year-end
24-Feb-2005
by John Harrington Greene King has vowed to get every one of its entire 600-strong estate into a Pubwatch scheme by the end of the year. The...
Host on trail to use Slug & Lettuce name
24-Feb-2005
A landlord who has recently taken on a Berkshire pub has hit a dilemma over plans to revive its original name the Slug & Lettuce. John...
Pub is the Hub is set to grow
24-Feb-2005
Everybody knows it's not easy running a rural pub. In many cases, pubs in hamlets and small villages teeter on the edge of viability with marginal...
Rogue pubs should be social outcasts
24-Feb-2005
If you watched the BBC TV programme on binge drinking last week I imagine that most of you would have been as horrified as I was by the picture it...
Trade's finally fighting amid transition turmoil
24-Feb-2005
It is hardly surprising, after the almost farcical start to the transition process this month, that heated words were exchangedat the Department for...
Urbium rolls out mini-Tiger Tigers
23-Feb-2005
Boosted by its move into the City of London, night-time operator Urbium is to roll-out smaller format Tiger Tiger venues over the next three...
CAMRA launches viability test to save pubs from closure
22-Feb-2005
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has launched a new viability test to help save Britain's pubs from closure.The test provides guidelines to local...
What the Sunday papers said…
21-Feb-2005
UK plc drained its glass and bid cheerio to the last quoted cidermaker as Merrydown was bought by SHS, the private Irish group that owns WKD alcopops...
Trade Talk: Graeme Cushion
18-Feb-2005
Graeme Cushion, solicitor and head of Poppleston Allen's regulatory crime department on enforcement issues.Many licensees will have noticed a higher...
Loud and clear...
17-Feb-2005
Publicans and drinkers refute accusations by Alcohol Concern that music is played at full volume to encourage drinking. Jackie Annett gets the...
DTI shuts down companies after publicans' complaints
17-Feb-2005
The department of Trade & Industry (DTI) has started its clampdown on the first raft of rogue recruitment companies. Three companies based in...
Licensee excluded from pubco discount scheme
17-Feb-2005
A former Enterprise licensee who lost his pub because of financial difficulties has accused the company of failing to treat all licensees...
All set for National Pubs Week?
17-Feb-2005
National Pubs Week is to start with a bang on Saturday with pubs up and down the country launching a series of events.The week, organised by the...
Time to stand up and reveal our trade's good side
17-Feb-2005
The time has come for a strong defence of the good that the pub and drinks industry does, argues Jonathan Neame, chief executive at Shepherd Neame...
Though the Daily Mail hysteria has abated, its malign effect
17-Feb-2005
Levying taxes on a whole swathe of pubs if one of them is consistently misbehaving seems the logic of the madhouse. Why should those who retail...
Scotland could set pricing
17-Feb-2005
Local authorities in Scotland could be allowed to set minimum pricing under new legislation. Licensing boards may also be given the power to close...
Pub set to carve Dame Ellen in wall
17-Feb-2005
The home village of Ellen MacArthur, world record holder for sailing around the globe non-stop, is set to celebrate her achievements by creating a...
Pubs shut for 24-hours in protest at reform'
17-Feb-2005
by Ewan Turney Three Leicestershire licensees slammed their doors shut for 24 hours in protest at the increasing cost, frustration and pressures of...
Collins fears poaching' chaos
17-Feb-2005
A huge wave of doorstaff poaching is set to hit pubs and clubs if police decide to prosecute unlicensed doorstaff immediately after the Security...
It's the right time to say no to drunks at the bar'
17-Feb-2005
Pubs and bars seem under attack from all quarters: the chief police officers, the Daily Mail and the Conservative Party have all mounted an...
Success is sweet
16-Feb-2005
The Honeycombe pub model is proving a winner in today's industry, as Andrew Catchpole explains.Ever since the dissolution of the brewing fiefdoms...
WKD owner snaps up Merrydown
16-Feb-2005
Merrydown, one of the UK's last independently-owned drinks companies, has agreed a takeover by SHS, owner of FAB brand WKD.SHS is paying 170p a share...
Nightclub Company boss hotly denies insolvency rumours
14-Feb-2005
The Nightclub Company has unequivocally refuted rumours that it is facing insolvency after contrary reports on the health of the leisure operator...
Low public support aids Scottish licensees' smoke ban fight
14-Feb-2005
Scottish publicans have condemned the Scottish Executive's proposal to ban smoking because they say only 20 per cent of the public are in favour.The...
A class act for pubs
11-Feb-2005
Many fear that the coming clampdown on change of status will stifle innovation. Michelle Perrett reports.Changes to the Use Classes Order (UCO) laws...
