Towns becoming "no-go areas" after dark
24-Jul-2007 By James Wilmore
City and town centres are becoming "no-go areas" after dark partly due to "drunken skylarking", the chairman of an influential committee of MPs has...
Nothing new" over licensing review, says BBPA
24-Jul-2007 By James Wilmore
The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) has played down media reports suggesting Gordon Brown is to review the Licensing Act. Most of the...
What the papers say - July 24, 2007
24-Jul-2007 By Eleanor Goodman
The floods which have devastated central and western England in the past four days are the worst in modern times, the Environment Agency has...
Fuller's managed pubs see strong start
24-Jul-2007 By Hamish Champ
Fuller Smith & Turner told investors today at the group's AGM that invested like-for-like sales in its managed pubs increased by 5.4 per cent for...
Scottish pubs face polycarbonate push
24-Jul-2007
Scottish publicans are gearing up to fight controversial new plans to bring in local on trade glass "bans" - a year after the collapse of a similar...
24-Jul-2007 By Ewan Turney
Pubs across the country have been devastated by the worst natural disaster to hit Britain in 60 years. The flooding crisis ripped through...
Early days?
23-Jul-2007 By Hamish Champ
News - OK, hearsay - reaches me that a couple of regional brewers of not insignificant size have experienced a near 20 per cent sales slump across...
23-Jul-2007
Greene King is to withdraw its High Court appeal to gain costs from a group of local residents who opposed the opening hours at one of its pubs. The...
New owner at Michelin-starred pub
23-Jul-2007 By Lucy Britner
A new chef patron is poised to continue Michael Bedford's legacy at the Trouble House it Tetbury, Cotswolds. From August, Martin Caws and his wife...
What the Sunday papers said
22-Jul-2007
Revellers have been told they must leave their pints in the bar if they want to light up outside and landlords in some parts of the country have been...
What the papers say - July 20, 2007
20-Jul-2007
The first official figures on the impact of the change in pub opening hours - in the Home Office's British Crime Survey - suggest the new licensing...
20-Jul-2007
Police have blocked an attempt by JD Wetherspoon to open a pub on Cambridge Leisure Park. City magistrates have backed officers after they claimed...
19-Jul-2007 By Iain O'Neil
The BBPA has questioned a new study, based on figures at one hospital, which says the new licensing laws trebled alcohol-related admissions to A&E departments.
Marston's acquires £19.2m Ringwood
19-Jul-2007 By The PMA Team
Marston's has bought Hampshire-based Ringwood Brewery for £19.2m. The brewery, which was founded by Peter Austin in 1978, produces around 30,000...
My Proud of Pubs Week diary
19-Jul-2007
Proud of Pubs Week has been one of the Fox & Grapes' busiest weeks since last Christmas and New Year, even though it is usually a high turnover...
What the papers say - July 19, 2007
19-Jul-2007 By Eleanor Goodman
The number of alcohol-related visits to hospital has trebled since the introduction of 24-hour licensing laws, a study suggests. The study, led by...
Licensee builds bedroom to try and dodge smoking ban
19-Jul-2007 By Eleanor Goodman
A Nottinghamshire licensee is converting part of her bar into a bedroom in a bid to dodge the smoking ban.Dawn Clarke, licensee at the Old Ship in...
Net profit concerns
19-Jul-2007 By Joe Lutrario joe.lutrario@william-reed.co.uk
Property agents have expressed concerned about the way in which reconstituted net profits (RNP) are calculated. The figure, which is sometimes...
MyShout
19-Jul-2007
Don't hedge around the controversial issues raised by the smoking ban, says Stephen Oliver As any journalist or exam student knows, one of the scary...
Spirit's filth 'lets down pub world'
19-Jul-2007 By Ewan Turney ewan.turney@william-reed.co.uk
Spirit Group, the managed division of Punch Taverns, has promised that remedial action is already underway to rectify its woeful food-hygiene...
No boozing - just spinning
19-Jul-2007
As an ex-alcoholic, Alastair Campbell (AC) might be expected to have shown more than passing interest in the Government's licensing plans....
MyShout
19-Jul-2007
No patterns have yet emerged but Peter Linacre is already hailing the smoke ban a success It might not be quite the equivalent of "Where were you...
Marston's host gets MBE for war work
19-Jul-2007
A 22 year-old Marston's licensee has been awarded an MBE for her work in war-torn Sierra Leone. Ex-soldier Aly-Joy Howarth, tenant of the Tavern in...
M&B's underage policy gets results
19-Jul-2007
Staff in Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) pubs are refusing service to 50,000 young people each month, thanks to the company's beefed up alco-hol...
InBrief
19-Jul-2007
A pub, by any other name... A licensee is reportedly installing beds in her pub and calling it a hotel room in a bid to dodge the smoking ban. Dawn...
A change in Fortunes
19-Jul-2007
When Carol Fortune had problems she turned to the LTC. Now she's back on track In the first half of 2007, the Licensed Trade Charity (LTC) - the...
The big cleanup
19-Jul-2007
Walls of water, flooded cellars and stinking sludge are just some of the horrors of the recent floods. Noli Dinkovski reports from the scene When he...
Siba urges Punch to join cask scheme
19-Jul-2007
Small brewers are calling on Britain's biggest pub operator Punch to commit itself to the independent sector by joining the industry's...
Pubs suffer 'huge inflationary creep'
19-Jul-2007 By John Harrington john.harrington@william-reed.co.u
Community pubs are facing a "huge inflationary creep" in the cost of abiding by government regulations. That is the view of the British Beer &...
NewsDigest
19-Jul-2007
Three renegade licensees are continuing to defy the smoking ban, with local councils showing no sign of taking action. Customers at the Swan,...
Getting high on the agenda
19-Jul-2007
I have just been to a re-screening of the film Pulp Fiction, in which drug-taking features largely and dramatically. Fictional it may be, but young...
LETTERs
19-Jul-2007
Time to fight for smoking rights A number of pubs across the UK are now allowing smokers to light up again. The licensees have realised how much...
18-Jul-2007 By The PMA Team
Wetherspoon pubs see positive like-for-like sales since the start of English smoke ban
What the papers say - July 18, 2007
18-Jul-2007 By Eleanor Goodman
An administrative mistake by Fareham Borough Council in Hampshire means that the national smoking ban does not yet apply in its pubs and workplaces....
Margins hit at JD Wetherspoon
18-Jul-2007 By Hamish Champ
Despite what it calls "strong food growth" throughout its estate, JD Wetherspoon acknowledged margins had been hit by the nationwide smoking ban.In a...
18-Jul-2007
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon said it believes pubs have become 'more attractive to the majority of customers' after smoking was banned on July 1. In a...
17-Jul-2007 By The PMA Team
The Three Wishes Group is selling five leasehold high street pubs and bars through agent Christie + Co. They are available on an individual basis or...
What the papers say - July 17, 2007
17-Jul-2007 By Eleanor Goodman
Breakfast is the most profitable part of the day for McDonald's in the United States, the restaurant chain said. More than 25 per cent of all sales...
Provence pub sold again
16-Jul-2007 By The PMA Team
A pub that discredited pub company Provence was trying to sell for £635,000 has been sold for £269,000.
C&C warns of lower first half profits
16-Jul-2007 By Hamish Champ
Wet weather and aggressive price competition from rival cider producers has prompted C&C Group to warn investors its first half operating profits...
Davey & Co merges with Ian Moralee
16-Jul-2007 By Hamish Champ
Property firm Davey & Co has announced that it has merged with North East-based agent Ian Moralee & Co.Davey & Co will add Moralee's...
The pub sector of tomorrow?
15-Jul-2007
It's 2020. The introduction of the smoking ban seems a distant memory, and even Lewis Hamilton has retired from Formula 1, having beaten Michael...
Too early to say...for now
15-Jul-2007 By Hamish Champ
I polled a number of pubcos last week on the impact of the English smoking ban in their pubs. Those prepared to talk about trading in the 10 days...
What the Sunday papers said
15-Jul-2007
Greene King, the regional brewer and pub company, is believed to be weighing up a £70m offer for Loch Fyne, the seafood restaurant business. The...
REITs off the menu
13-Jul-2007 By Hamish Champ
The prospect of a major pub group becoming a real estate investment trust (REIT) has evaporated, as companies look at alternative means of unlocking...
What the papers say - July 13
13-Jul-2007 By Eleanor Goodman
The government was scrambling to keep alive plans to liberalise the country's casino laws yesterday. James Purnell, culture secretary, was writing to...
Cheque Inns opens pub HQ
13-Jul-2007 By Ewan Turney
Cheque-cashing operator Cheque Inns has opened its first pub, which will also act as its head office. Cheque Inns founder and former licensee Nigel...
Hamish Champ: £5.2m - yes, that's right, £5.2m - for a pub?!?
12-Jul-2007 By Hamish Champ
£5.2m for a pub?!? "Christ on a bike, you've got be joking!" I hear you cry. But no, I'm not. Yessiree bob, restaurateur Gordon Ramsay has,...
Capital Pub Co determined to remain independent
12-Jul-2007 By Hamish Champ
David Bruce, chief executive of the burgeoning Capital Pub Company (CPC), has said he would "put up quite a fight" should a potential bidder threaten...
National pride in pubs
12-Jul-2007
More than 100 MPs ranging from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell in Scotland to Michael Howard, the former leader of the Tories, in Kent...
