Other operators

Industry proposes new protection for Scotch categories

14-Mar-2005

The Scottish whisky industry has come up with a series of proposals for legislation that would protect Scotch by enshrining the definition and...

Trade Talk: Andrea Horsfield

11-Mar-2005

Andrea Horsfield, director of the Training School gives her views on branded training.As I set up the Training School three years ago, which prides...

Brewers' takeover plans blocked

11-Mar-2005

The UK's Competition Commission has claimed it is "good news" for pub companies and customers after blocking a deal by two brewers to buy a rival's...

Coming out fighting

10-Mar-2005

Daniel Pearce hears both sides of the arguments over SIA licensing.There were high hopes a month ago that the licensed trade could broker a peace...

A nagging dilemma

10-Mar-2005

Young's has a dilemma. Should it abandon its outgrown site to expand? Andrew Catchpole meets the brewery's chairman and chief executive.There is an...

Supervisors' ball and chain can be cut free

10-Mar-2005

One of the major problems that already seems to be emerging from local authority interpretation of the new Licensing Act concerns the presence of the...

Last-minute call for postponement of SIA scheme

10-Mar-2005

There are new calls this week for an eleventh-hour postponement of the doorstaff registration scheme, with the body in charge facing legal action...

Licensees furious at council's 'bias' on applications

10-Mar-2005

Licensees hoping to extend their opening hours in one London borough are furious that their local council appears to be urging residents to...

Time to ACT!: Get on site

10-Mar-2005

The new premises licences are the focus of the second part of Time to ACT!, The Publican's initiative with the British Beer & Pub Association and...

Bidding invited for SFI

10-Mar-2005

SFI, the troubled owner of Slug and Lettuce, has signalled its potential sale with the issue of an information pack aimed at prospective...

Churchill hits acquisition trail

10-Mar-2005

Wellingborough-based Churchill Taverns Group has formed a new company, Churchill Taverns VCT, to buy and develop freehold pubs. The new company will...

Club alternative to PELs

10-Mar-2005

QWe are continuing to have difficulty obtaining a public entertainment licence because of objections. A colleague of mine in the jazz world has told...

Best Bar None award fires up

10-Mar-2005

The second Weston-Super-Mare Best Bar None award scheme was launched on 8 March. Awards will be dished out for best bar, best club, best pub and best...

Rural pubs suffer rise in disorder'

10-Mar-2005

by John Harrington The Government has been criticised for taking its eye off crime and disorder in and around rural pubs after new figures reveal...

Take a giant leap for LTC with walk

10-Mar-2005

One of the biggest charity fundraising events of the year is taking place between April and September and presents a great opportunity to raise...

What the Sunday papers said…

07-Mar-2005

JD Wetherspoon disappointed the market yesterday with a sharp drop in first-half trading profits and news that trading had deteriorated further last...

Finance: Chipping in

04-Mar-2005

Do you have Chip & PIN in your pub yet? Whether you do or not, it's worth knowing what your options are. Phil Mellows reports.You might think...

Finance: Safety PIN

04-Mar-2005

Portable Chip & PIN machines taken to a customer's table do much to enhance the eating experience.Customer service is an increasingly important...

Welsh licensees unite under Butt Out! campaign

03-Mar-2005

Licensees from across South Wales came together at a meeting last night (Wednesday) against the proposed blanket smoking ban in the country.Publicans...

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...