Companies

Join the pub brigade

Celebrity pub chef: 'I'd love to see more young people choosing hospitality as a career'

29-Jul-2015 By Josh Eggleton, chef patron of the Pony & Trap, Chew Magna, Somerset

When I joined the trade, life as a chef was tough - with long hours, hard work and not a lot of time off. But that didn’t deter me at all and I’ve loved it since day one.

City news

M&B reports 1.3% sales growth

29-Jul-2015 By James Wallin, MC Allegra FS

Mitchells & Butlers has reported like-for-like sales growth of 1.3% for the 43 weeks to 25 July, and said it is “assessing a wide range of options” to mitigate the effects of the National Living Wage.

Leisure Tracker

Drinking out spend up 5% in June

29-Jul-2015 By Emily Sutherland

Eating out spend grew 6% year-on-year in June with a 5% rise in drinking out, according to the latest Greene King Leisure Spend Tracker

MA300

Craft Beer Co secures site near Gherkin

29-Jul-2015 By James Evison

The Craft Beer Co has announced that the group will debut in the City of London, after securing a site in Mitre Street, in the shadow of the insurance district's landmark Gherkin building.

City news

Directors exit as Geronimo Inns restructures

28-Jul-2015 By Ruth Williams, MC Allegra FS

Stalwart Ed Turner leaves along with ops director Mark Ashley.

Tourist pub defends £1 charge to spend a penny

28-Jul-2015 By Oli Gross

A pub has defended its decision to charge non-customers to use its toilets and said the new scheme is “working well”.

Join the pub brigade

Mass Mobilisation: meet the managed pub groups taking on the chef shortage

27-Jul-2015 By Daniel Woolfson

Finding and retaining chefs for an independent or leased pub can be hard enough, but imagine trying to find and recruit enough chefs to maintain and drive kitchens at — in some cases — hundreds of sites. Daniel Woolfson reports.

Robinsons to invest in estate as beer production booms

27-Jul-2015 By James Wallin, M&C Allegra Foodservice

Robinsons is to spend £23m over the next five years refurbishing 179 pubs and a similar amount in maintenance.

Community

Prince pops in for a pint at Cornish pub

24-Jul-2015 By Helen Gilbert

A Cornish pub enjoyed a right royal visit when HRH The Prince of Wales dropped in to pull a pint and borrow a library book.

"If you don't offer long-term leases, you won't get who you want to attract" - Interviewing Star Pubs' Chris Jowsey

23-Jul-2015 By Ed Bedington

Failing to become a ‘dot-com millionaire’ launched Chris Jowsey on the path to a fruitful career in the beer trade. Ed Bedington finds out more about the Star Pubs & Bars chief.

Join the Pub Brigade

The battle for the kitchen crew

22-Jul-2015 By Daniel Woolfson

Filling their boots? Daniel Woolfson talks to some of the top figures in the pub industry to discover the lay of the land regarding chef recruitment.

Join the Pub Brigade

Meet the chefs

22-Jul-2015 By Daniel Woolfson & Noli Dinkovski

Meet the pub chefs who are facing challenges regarding recruitment - and how they overcome them.

City news

Marston's sales up - but living wage has impact

22-Jul-2015 By James Wallin, MC Allegra FS

Marston’s has reported like-for-like sales in its managed houses up 1.7% for the 41 weeks to 18 July and 2% in the last 10 weeks of that period.

City news

M&B share price slides following living wage announcement

22-Jul-2015 By M&C Allegra

Mitchells & Butlers has seen its share price slide since the announcement that a National Living Wage will be introduced.

Celeb chef Phil Vickery: "ignorant and arrogant" chefs "pay lip service" to coeliac customers

21-Jul-2015 By Daniel Woolfson

Chefs’ “ignorant” attitudes towards coeliac customers can lead to missing out on valuable business opportunities, according to celebrity chef Phil Vickery.

Hampshire student named "MasterChef" at Sun Inn chef's competition

21-Jul-2015 By Daniel Woolfson

Stephen Naylor, who recently finished a level 3 diploma in professional cookery, won the title at a cook-off held at Basingstoke College of Technology, organised by Gordon Stott, head chef and landlord of the Sun Inn, Basingstoke.

Comment

How to get good staff - and keep them

21-Jul-2015 By Chelsea Hankin

It’s no secret that the pub and bar sector has an issue with staff retention. While staff turnover is falling, a reduction of 10% since 2008 according to the ALMR, the industry is still struggling to retain staff.

Inception Group: 'a good concept is more than just decorating the walls'

21-Jul-2015 By Emily Sutherland

It’s been a busy year so far for the Inception Group, the eight strong company founded by Charlie Gilkes.

North-west pub chef creates YouTube recipe channel

20-Jul-2015 By Noli Dinkovski

A north-west chef has set up his own YouTube channel to showcase some of his pub’s more unusual dishes.

CAMRA

London and South East hit hardest by pub closures

20-Jul-2015 By M&C Report

Regional statistics released by Campaign for Real Ale indicate that London and the South East are hit hardest by pub closures - with an average of 10.2 closing a week.

GREAT BRITISH MENU

Great British Menu 2015: the pub contenders

17-Jul-2015 By Fred A'Court

This year’s BBC2 Great British Menu is approaching and with past winners including Emily Watkins of the Kingham Plough, Oxfordshire, James Durrant of the Plough Inn, Longparish and Tom Kerridge of the Hand & Flowers, it’s a veritable proving ground...

Dining Out

Dining out at... the Anchor & Hope, Waterloo

17-Jul-2015 By Daniel Woolfson

Sitting down to eat at the Anchor & Hope, one of South London’s oldest established gastropubs, I can’t help but feel like I’ve been teleported to Spain.

Farage's favourite London pub saved

15-Jul-2015 By Emily Sutherland

The future of a prominent London pub, the Westminster Arms, a favourite among MPs, is looking brighter after luxury developers amended plans that could have forced the pub to close.

London development is killing pubs

14-Jul-2015 By Jessica Mason

I remember being incredibly sad about leaving London. It was seven years ago and, still, it kind of feels like a little bit of my identity is elsewhere.

Punch to open pilot site for licensed cafe concept

14-Jul-2015 By MC Allegra FS

Punch Taverns has chosen a site in East Lothian to pilot its licensed café/bistro concept Brewed & Baked.

Neil Rankin: The Good, The Bad & The Eggy

13-Jul-2015 By Stefan Chomka

Neil Rankin, the chef behind Smokehouse and Bad Egg talks about his latest ventures, his eclectic menus and turning pubs into restaurants.

Charity

Butchers Arms serves up victory in LTC golf heat

13-Jul-2015 By Mike Berry

The Butchers Arms from King’s Sutton in Banbury were the latest winners of the latest round of the Licensed Trade Charity 2015 Golf Tournament.

Chefs

Dining out at...The Marksman

13-Jul-2015 By James Evison

A much anticipated re-opening of a Hackney pub aims to find a place in a crowded market. It succeeds...

Wetherspoons to open 4 pubs in single day

13-Jul-2015 By James Evison

Wetherspoon is opening four pubs on the same day in July.

Star pubs

Video: Creating a theatrical bar in Edinburgh

10-Jul-2015 By James Evison

Following Star pubs announcement about investment in its estate, check out this video of the refurbishment of the Jolly Botanist in Edinburgh.

Distinctive Inns opens third site in first partnership with Star Pubs & Bars

10-Jul-2015 By Oli Gross

Distinctive Inns has opened its third site in its first partnership with Star Pubs & Bars.

Property

The lowdown on the JDW pubs for sale

09-Jul-2015 By James Evison

It’s unusual for a big, constantly expanding pubco to put property on the market. But JDW has done just that – in some interesting locations. So, what and where are the sites? Here’s PMA’s guide to some of the sites.

Wear Inns secures £8m refinancing to fund expansion

09-Jul-2015 By M&C Allegra FS

North East and Yorkshire pub operator Wear Inns has secured a new £8m refinancing deal with Natwest as it seeks to make a series of acquisitions across its heartland.

Publicans

'The pubco/tenant relationship - it's a struggle between "us and them"'...Interviewing campaigner Bill Sharp

08-Jul-2015 By Michelle Perrett

Bill Sharp has been an industry stalwart for more than 40 years, fighting for the rights of licensees and urging Government intervention over the beer tie.

Review into iconic Camden pub's ACV listing

08-Jul-2015 By Emily Sutherland

The owners of Camden’s iconic Black Cap have asked for a review into the council’s decision to list the pub as an asset of community value.

PoundPub to open fifth site in Staffordshire

08-Jul-2015 By James Wallin, M&C Report

PoundPub, the no-frills pub concept, is to open its fifth site in Leek, Staffordshire, M&C understands.

Beer special

'Will BrewDog ever do a Meantime? No.'...Interviewing James Watt

07-Jul-2015 By Adrian Tierney-Jones

The BrewDog empire of beers and bars may well continue to grow at a rapid rate, but co-founder James Watt wants to keep hold of the punk spirit...

FLVA updates members on pubs code

06-Jul-2015 By Martin Caffrey

The Federation of Licensed Victuallers Association (FLVA) held a series of member briefings on the forthcoming pubs code last month. Ops director Martin Caffrey provides an update.

Award for community-run pub that goes 'above and beyond'

06-Jul-2015 By Emily Sutherland

A Derbyshire pub owned by the local community has won the Plunkett Foundation’s pioneer award for ‘going above and beyond’ in its efforts to help other co-operative pubs.

Shepherd Neame

45 years of wonderful customers keeps passion for pubs alive

06-Jul-2015 By Oli Gross

After 45 years in the industry, a licensee puts his enduring love for pubs down to the “wonderful” relationships he has with customers.

Fuller's appoints head of operations

06-Jul-2015 By M&C Report

Fuller’s has announced that Fred Turner will be its new Head of Operations – Tenanted Division.

Locals celebrate as pub closed for almost three years reopens

03-Jul-2015 By Emily Sutherland

Hackney’s the Chesham Arms opened its doors to the public last week for the first time in almost three years after being saved from the brink of redevelopment by locals.