'Bring your own booze to the pub'
04-Mar-2009
A pub owner is battling cheap supermarket drink deals by inviting cash-strapped punters to bring their own booze. Bip Wetherell lets punters bring in...
04-Mar-2009 By John Harrington
A moratorium on costly new laws, action to stop below-cost supermarket alcohol sales and duty breaks are needed to stop the "haemorrhage of pubs"....
04-Mar-2009 By Ewan Turney
The Government could be £217m worse off because its inflation busting duty hikes have shut so many pubs. The warning comes from the Association of...
04-Mar-2009 By John Harrington
The pro-pub MP writes to the Chancellor and submits a petition urging banks to lend to pubs — 32 MPs have signed already.
Alistair Darby: BDMs and improving pub business
03-Mar-2009
How much money are you making out of this pub?" It's a question I ask of our retailers as often as I can when I am out visiting their pubs. Sadly the...
03-Mar-2009 By John Harrington
Pubs in parts of rural Wales can now apply for grants of up to £10,000 to help them diversify. Pub is the Hub, the Prince Charles-backed...
03-Mar-2009 By Ewan Turney
A Punch licensee is telling his customers to bring their own booze to his nightclub. Bip Wetherall, lessee at the 18-room Raven Hotel in Corby,...
03-Mar-2009 By Gemma McKenna
A Stockport licensee has warned fellow hosts to be on their guard against a scam artist asking for a loan of £800. Karl Guare, licensee at the Royal...
03-Mar-2009 By Sir Shannon Alberry
The Morning Advertiser introduces our new blogger...Sir Shannon Alberry of the Bloated Toad. To say that pubs run through my veins might be an...
Pub prices and the valuation gap
02-Mar-2009 By Hamish Champ
When Punch Taverns revealed it would be prepared to consider selling pretty much each and every one of its 7,500-plus leased pubs to their incumbent...
Hamish Champ: Recession? What recession? (Part 307)
02-Mar-2009 By Hamish Champ
I know there is a recession going on. I read the papers, after all. And I know that while not the largest country in the world the UK is quite big...
Tied pubs eligible for government aid
02-Mar-2009 By James Wilmore
Tied licensees can now apply for government support under a scheme to help small businesses struggling for financial help, licensing minister Gerry...
Punch Taverns freezes staff pay as recession bites deeper
02-Mar-2009 By Hamish Champ
Punch Taverns has confirmed it is freezing pay for all staff across the company, with the exception of its frontline bar teams.The move comes as the...
'Pub licensee stung for £37,000 water bill'
02-Mar-2009
Pub landlady Caroline Wells was shocked to receive her water bill - for £37,000. Now the 43 year-old she and her husband Shannon, who run the Red...
02-Mar-2009 By John Harrington
Three pub managers who were found employing doorstaff without holding the correct licence themselves face fines of up to £5,000 or even jail. The...
02-Mar-2009 By Ewan Turney
A group of licensees have launched a petition calling for Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling to resign for "ensuring the demise" of the British pub....
27-Feb-2009 By Andrew Pring
Remove the tie, and you say goodbye to real ale and family brewers, Independent Family Brewers of Britain chairman Paul Wells tells Andrew Pring.
27-Feb-2009 By Andrew Pring
Many thousands have so far signed up to the Axe the Beer Tax campaign, but more of us need to if we are to influence the Chancellor come Budget day, says Andrew Pring.
27-Feb-2009 By The PMA Team
Just before Christmas, Regent Inns held a meeting with its worried suppliers to stress it was not on the verge of going bust. The company was not...
Mark Daniels: When Did You Last Reward Yourself?
27-Feb-2009
One of my favourite pastimes, when I get the opportunity to be bored, is to trawl the AutoTrader website to see what sort of price old Ferraris are...
Regent Inns says banks "remain supportive
27-Feb-2009
Walkabout operator Regent Inns said today it had the full support of its banks despite being forced admit there was "material uncertainty" over the...
Pub workers feel pressure to work longer hours
27-Feb-2009 By Matt Eley Matt
Pub staff are working an average of 50 days extra a year in unpaid overtime, according to new research. In an analysis of official statistics...
Condemned historic pub to be revived in new venue
27-Feb-2009
An historic pub which had to be vacated after it was earmarked for demolishment is set to be restored to its former glory in a new venue.The...
27-Feb-2009 By Martyn Leek, M&C Report
Regent Inns has warned that the uncertainty of its trading position could affect its ability to operate as a going concern.
27-Feb-2009 By Tim Martin
The pub sector is suffering because entrepreneurs like Hugh Osmond, above right, made millions by borrowing far too much, says Wetherspoon founder...
27-Feb-2009 By Ewan Turney
Over 100 MPs have thrown their support behind a campaign calling for automatic rate relief for small businesses. The MPs have signed up to an Early...
Inspector: London Town must retain village pub
26-Feb-2009 By The PMA Team
A planning inspector has told London Town that a pub is too important to its village to turn into a house. London Town appealed against the decision...
Franchises you could take into your pub
26-Feb-2009
Last week I examined the franchised model and how it might apply to pubs. But that was from the wider perspective of leasing out large sections of...
Publican Local Focus: Bath - Spa gazing
26-Feb-2009 By James Wilmore
For a thirsty beer lover there aren't many better places to spend a day or two than Bath. The Somerset city, which feels more like a town in size,...
Pub granted reprieve after licensee death
26-Feb-2009 By James Wilmore
A relieved pub couple that were facing a ban on selling alcohol after the sudden death of the pub's licence-holder have been granted a last-minute...
Operators blast lack of action on foreign satellite pubs
26-Feb-2009 By James Wilmore
Frustrated pub operators have spoken out over an apparent on-going lack of action against nearby outlets showing foreign satellite football....
Punch Taverns names new R.O.D.
26-Feb-2009
Punch Taverns has appointed David Wigham to the role of regional operations director "to help champion pubs in the North East and East".He takes...
Final chance to enter 'Chef's Oscars'
26-Feb-2009 By Claire Elliott
It's the last chance to nominate a deserving pub chef for this year's Pub Restaurant Chef of the Year. The closing date for entries for the Craft...
26-Feb-2009 By Tony Halstead
Sacked pub managers are lining up a series of unfair dismissal claims against North Yorkshire brewer Sam Smith. The company is facing a number of...
26-Feb-2009 By John Harrington
Punch tenants can sell meals for set amounts starting at just £1.99, under a new scheme. The Table Top scheme, initially available for around 1,000...
26-Feb-2009 By John Harrington
The scandal of high-street banks refusing to lend to licensees will be put to five senior Government ministers at next week's pub-crisis summit....
26-Feb-2009 By John Harrington
A Punch tenant says his bank's decision not to lend him money to buy his pub's freehold defies logic. John Chapman asked NatWest for a loan of...
Barman cooks up trouble after leaving £1k in oven
25-Feb-2009
A barman came under fire from staff and customers after he accidentally burnt £1,000 in the oven.Martin Talbot, licensee of the Jolly Farmer in...
'Punch case thrown out of court'
25-Feb-2009
The pub company, Punch Taverns, has fought off an application by a disgruntled supplier to have it wound up after a judge threw out the case,...
Pub closure rate has not peaked, warns Neame
25-Feb-2009 By James Wilmore
Calls for the government to ditch the duty escalator and bring in fairer taxation on draught beer reached fever pitch today at a lively meeting in...
Pubs anger at 'heavy-handed' Glasgow cops
25-Feb-2009
A police chief has denied trade claims that heavy-handed and obnoxious officers have made Glasgow "a police state".A summit meeting was held between...
Bonrose lets Twickers bar
25-Feb-2009 By Gemma McKenna
Twickenham bar the Ranch has been sublet to Bonrose Enterprise, a pub operator with a three-strong portfolio in the south-west area of London....
25-Feb-2009 By Tamara Sender, M&C Report
Shepherd Neame boss Jonathan Neame has warned that 25% of all Britain's pubs could close for good unless duty on beer is cut. Speaking at a...
24-Feb-2009 By Ewan Turney
Consumers are continuing to eat and drink out but pub and restaurant chains are having to work extra hard to get customers through the door.
Locals take over pub for TV series
24-Feb-2009 By Matt Eley Matt
A passionate group of locals has taken over a pub in a bid to give business a boost. Villagers from Grizebeck in Cumbria have formed a committee to...
Call for pubs to embrace ID card scheme
24-Feb-2009
The chief executive of the country's largest ID card scheme, CitizenCard, has called for increased partnership with pubs on the 10th anniversary of...
'Punch Taverns in Hall of Shame'
24-Feb-2009
Pub group Punch Taverns, media firm Trinity Mirror and mining giant Xstrata have been named in a "hall of shame" by a specialist financial...
24-Feb-2009 By Ewan Turney
The Tories must introduce a second set of Beer Orders to limit the pubcos to owning 2,000 pubs if they are serious about saving the British pub. That...
Roger Whiteside: Riding to the rescue with Punch Taverns
23-Feb-2009 By Hamish Champ
The former boss of Thresher, the off-licence chain, Whiteside joined Punch a shade over 100 days ago, replacing the departing Deborah Kemp. Arriving...
'Barman burns pub 'dough' in oven'
23-Feb-2009
Dozy Luke Woolston felt the heat from his boss after he hid £1,000 of takings in a hot oven — and they went up in smoke. Trusting Martin Talbot...
