Independent Operators

The pull of the euro

05-Feb-2004

Fancy swapping pub life in Britain for a bar in the sun? TONY HALSTEAD reports The lure of the good life has been responsible for thousands of...

Joint statement

04-Feb-2004

With cannabis confusion seemingly sweeping the nation, Jackie Annett attempts to clear the air on its legality.In the biggest shake up to drugs laws...

NI licensees join forces to push Charter compliance

04-Feb-2004

Northern Irish licensees have formed a taskforce to look at ways of pushing forward Smoking Charter compliance in the province.The Federation of the...

Hearing aids?

03-Feb-2004

Taking a rent dispute to an arbitrator is not a decision to be taken lightly. Michelle Perrett explains.Over the past year increasing numbers of...

From start to finish

02-Feb-2004

City financier Peter Hansen knows a thing or two about pubs and his clients read like a who's who of the trade. By Mark Stretton.If there is a pub...

What the Sunday papers say

02-Feb-2004

Sunday TelegraphWolverhampton and Dudley Breweries is one of the few companies to report solid sales over Christmas, with like for like sales in its...

Regulars brush up on their life' skills

29-Jan-2004

by Claire Hu Nude models are helping regulars at a Tyneside pub explore their artistic side. Life drawing is just one of the classes launched by...

North: Fat Cat

29-Jan-2004

Sheffield, South Yorkshire Pub and brewing entrepreneur David Wickett was a man ahead of the game when he bought Sheffield's Fat Cat 22 years ago and...

North: Eskdale Inn

29-Jan-2004

Castleton, North Yorkshire Gavin Mead spent 37 years driving coaches before settling on a new career pulling pints at the Eskdale Inn at Castleton,...

The Fat Cat, West End St

29-Jan-2004

It was Camra (Campaign for Real Ale) National Pub of the Year in 1999 and the Good Beer Guide's Beer Pub of the Year in 1998 and 2003. So is the Fat...

The Adam & Eve, Bishopgate

29-Jan-2004

Everyone wants to know how Rita McCluskey got her hands on the Adam & Eve but she's not telling. Reputedly established in 1249 to serve...

Sticking one's head in Lion's mouth

29-Jan-2004

There's no hiding place for the modern journalist. Have you noticed the growing number of newspapers that have daily columns correcting mistakes in...

Wales: Jolly Sailor

29-Jan-2004

Burton, Pembrokeshire Ken Applin says the first thing that he and wife Jean decided to do when they took on the Jolly Sailor was transform the...

Strong Boddies seduces Camra

29-Jan-2004

by Tony Halstead Camra, the Campaign for Real Ale pressure group, has "kissed and made up" with Boddingtons, the brewer it loved to hate over a cold...

Wales: Carpenters Arms

29-Jan-2004

Clydach, West Glamorgan Around the time that Richie Saunders and partner Jill Davies took over the Carpenters Arms in Clydach three years ago, the...

West: Alice Lisle

29-Jan-2004

Rockford Green, Hampshire "It's a cracking pub. If you look after it, it will look after you." So says John Farley, manager of the Alice Lisle an...

Home Counties: The Poacher

29-Jan-2004

Tudeley, Kent Jason and Debbie Emery had their work cut out when they took over the Poacher. The previous licensee didn't encourage children and even...

Home Counties: Spring Inn

29-Jan-2004

Sulhamstead, Berkshire Customers at the Spring Inn won't need a dictionary of food and drink to understand the food offering. The pub prides itself...

Home Counties: Land of Liberty

29-Jan-2004

Peace and Plenty Heronsgate, Herts Maggie and John Moir acquired the unusually named Land of Liberty Peace and Plenty (a reference to the Chartist...

Home Counties: Falkland Arms

29-Jan-2004

Great Tew, Oxfordshire The Falkland Arms is an oddity within Wadworth's tied estate. It is one of only two pubs in the brewer's 250-strong estate...

Home Counties: Cock Inn

29-Jan-2004

Gamlingay, Bedfordshire There are a number of ways Roger and Tina Collins measure the part that the Cock Inn plays in the local community. First,...

You can bank on it

29-Jan-2004

RBS invests millions in pubs. Mark Stretton talks to one of its main men.Think of the least admired professions and after estate agents, lawyers and...

Pubs to lose out in gambling bill

29-Jan-2004

The new gambling bill will hit the income of small pubs, says the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA).Giving evidence in Parliament this week,...

The Ploughman's Principle

29-Jan-2004

Without wishing to tell grandmother how to suck eggs, Andrew Jefford offers a three-point plan for success in pub catering My admiration for pub...

Your voice: even stronger

29-Jan-2004

It's three and a half years since the Morning Advertiser reinvented itself and became a far more relevant newspaper for modern licensees and their...

Hughes is top Quays manager

29-Jan-2004

The licensee of the Old Customs House in Portsmouth has been awarded the title of Manager of the Year by Gunwharf Quays, the city's award-winning...

National Pubs Week FREE Quiz

28-Jan-2004 By Chris Harding

Over the last few decades quizzes have been one of the cheapest, easiest and most popular ways for a pub to attract regular trade on a quiet night of the week.

Glasgow pubs call for clarification on promos ban

28-Jan-2004

The ban on drinks promotions in Glasgow has left operators unsure whether even the simplest branding is in breach of the stringent rules laid down by...

What the Sunday papers say

25-Jan-2004

The Sunday TelegraphA new American device that allows non-smokers to test the amount of nocitine they have absorbed is about to be introduced in this...

Lion Inn www.lioninn.co.uk

22-Jan-2004

Trellech, Monmouthshire Tom and Debbie Zsigo first set up a website for the Lion Inn around seven years ago, around 12 months after they brought the...

Harry's www.harrys.uk.com

22-Jan-2004

Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Licensee Rob McKeon and media development manager Steve Adams had a clear idea of what they wanted when they created...

Wooldale Arms

22-Jan-2004

Wooldale, West Yorkshire Beer drinking and fundraising are just about the only meaningful activities you will find going on at the Wooldale Arms. The...

NTK (Need To Know)

22-Jan-2004

Blackpool, Lancashire When you run one of Blackpool's busiest town-centre-venue pubs, marketing and promotion are key elements to the success of the...

Leader of the pack

22-Jan-2004

Wolverhampton & Dudley's Ralph Findlay tells Mark Stretton about the changes that have transformed the once-ailing company.IT is a hot summer's...

Pubs and the Data Protection Act

22-Jan-2004

With data scams still in the news, Phil Mellows asks what the law really means.Nobody is quite sure how many licensees have been caught out by Data...

IFBB must admit Cain's error

22-Jan-2004

Anthony Fuller, chairman of the Independent Family Brewers of Britain, has learned a trick or two from professional politicians: when you're under...

Terraces Bar & Grill

22-Jan-2004

Brighton, East Sussex Perhaps it's not surprising that a clean environment is high on the list of priorities for a venue on the Brighton seafront....

Old Spot

22-Jan-2004

Dursley, Gloucestershire Last year, Steve Herbert and the rest of the staff of the Old Spot, set about developing a plan for what they wanted to do...

Unlimited outrage

21-Jan-2004

A call for changes to the drink-drive rules has angered rural publicans, especially as this year's figures were an improvement on previous...

Well-kept secret

20-Jan-2004

Armagnac does not have the profile of its well-known relation cognac but producers are on a mission to change that. Ben McFarland explains.Armagnac...

Industry rejects bed tax proposals

20-Jan-2004

The pub industry has rejected a proposal for the introduction of a "bed" tax on hotels and pubs with accommodation.The Local Government Association...

What the Sunday papers say

19-Jan-2004

The Mail on SundaySpirit Group, the UK's largest managed pub group, is looking for a property company to buy 300 of its pubs in a sale-and-leaseback...

Red Cat

15-Jan-2004

Crank, Lancashire The Red Cat is situated in an area of central Lancashire where you might expect beer to be the favourite pub drink rather than...

Pitcher & Piano

15-Jan-2004

Brindley Place, Birmingham When a pub is just a few minutes walk away from the UK's most densely-pubbed circuit, namely Broad Street in Birmingham,...

Mid Devon

15-Jan-2004

Mike Sais, co-ordinator of Mid Devon Pubwatch, is proud, and rightly so, of the way alcohol-infuseddisorder has been reduced in the streets of...

Stereo

15-Jan-2004

Quayside, Newcastle-upon-Tyne You would be hard pressed to come up with a better location for a style bar than that enjoyed by Stereo on Newcastle's...

St Margaret's Tavern

15-Jan-2004

Twickenham, Middlesex Oisin Rogers, manager of St Margaret's Tavern, doesn't pull any punches when describing what it used to be like. "It was the...

Geoffrey Hartridge

15-Jan-2004

Geoffrey Hartridge, licensed trade campaigner and managing director of Hartridge's Soft Drinks between 1955 and 1982, has died at the age of 85. He...

Golden Fleece

15-Jan-2004

Queen Street, London EC4 "Ever since my first pub 13 years ago, I've always aspired to running a pub like this." So says Annie Power, who realised...

Captain Digby

15-Jan-2004

Broadstairs, Kent Whatever the sales and profitability targets that are set for the Captain Digby, general manager Tony Pearson has the uncanny knack...