It’s 15 years now since I wrote the first edition of the Cask Report – an initiative organised by cask brewers and industry bodies to reinvigorate attitudes around cask ale. Now, The Cask Project is a new initiative with the same goals.
Budweiser Brewing Group UK & Ireland’s Jean-David Thumelaire talks about the pandemic, the business’s Stella Please campaign and its latest innovations, among other things, with The Morning Advertiser associate features editor Gary Lloyd.
By Philip Smith, the Lord Smith of Hindhead CBE and chief executive of the Association of Conservative Clubs
As we emerge from the Covid pandemic I think we can all agree that this has been the most extraordinary time in most of our lives, and in the life of the nation. There will be many lessons to be learned.
By Mark Bentley, on-trade controller at Molson Coors
Mark Bentley, on-trade category controller at Molson Coors, reflected on how the hospitality sector is bouncing back after the challenges of the pandemic, and what outlets can do to anticipate behavioural change from customers.
By Seb Heeley-Wiggins, co-founder, The Spirit of Manchester Distillery
We can all agree that the past 24 months have been difficult. For the hospitality operators who rely on customers for their bottom line, and also for the producers who rely on such operators to fuel their supply line. Both have faced enormous financial...
By Jill Whittaker, managing director at HIT Training
As National Careers Week draws to a close, here is how using apprenticeships to attract and then retain talent in the pub sector is well worth the effort.
While it’s good news that Wales has now pledged to lift restrictions on pubs, the question does remain - what purpose did they serve in the first place?
And so we find ourselves, once again, standing at a potential cliff edge, waiting for the casual and careless shove of our political leaders to send us into the abyss.
By Joe Cussens, managing director, Bath Pub Company
The recent Budget announcement that pubs would receive a 50% reduction in their rates bill for the coming financial year was, of course, welcome, but stopped short of the fundamental review of the rates system many were arguing for.
By Mark Bentley, on-trade category controller, Molson Coors
Anyone reading the trade press or listening to various data & insight experts would be forgiven for thinking that everyone is now drinking premium drinks and that familiar favourites such as core standard lager brands have had their day.
As Monty Python famously recorded: “Though there was trouble at the mill they didn’t expect ‘The Spanish Inquisition’.” There is trouble in the pub sector mill and there needs to be an inquisition into the behaviour and transparency of pub-owning companies.
By Gav Young, the Plough and Barleycorn, Isle of Wight
So the red tops are awash with pictures of Boris and Rishi holding pints aloft as they declare not only a duty freeze but a 3p reduction, of course there is much small print including the cut not coming into force until 2023 or, indeed, on kegs under...
A year ago, brewing giants Carlsberg UK and Marston’s joined forces to become Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC). Here, CMBC chief executive Paul Davies tells The Morning Advertiser what’s been achieved in the year and what’s yet to come.
By Gav Young, the Plough and Barleycorn, Isle of Wight
It is no coincidence the biggest voices in the ‘cut the duty’ campaign are the big brewers. With duty at around 52p per pint it is a massive proportion of the value of a pint at the brewery gate, far more so than it is of a pint on the bar in the pub....
Our fearless leader, when he’s not on his hols in the middle of a major crisis, recently announced the wonderful news that his ambition for the UK was for it to become a high wage economy.
Parliament introduced the pubs code owing to serious concerns expressed over many years about the relationship between the large pub companies and their tied tenants.
By Steve Alton, chief executive, British Institute of Innkeeping
Our sector relies upon an effective integrated supply chain linking raw materials, manufacturing and logistics to ensure our pubs can deliver a fantastic experience for their customers.
By Dave Wall, head chef the Unruly Pig, Bromeswell, Suffolk
While working with a hangover isn’t a new concept for many from the world of hospitality, dealing with the aftermath of Covid and Brexit is the ‘day after’ on steroids, presenting a whole new torrent of tangles, issues and problems to battle with on a...
By Neil Morgan, senior director of pubs & restaurants, Christie & Co
Neil Morgan, senior director of pubs & restaurants at Christie & Co, gives an insight into the state of the property sector now that restrictions have been lifted.
Rachel Dobson, managing director of buying specialist Lynx Purchasing, offers practical advice to licensees on how to deal with the food supply challenges.
The way the on-trade has adapted and been resilient against the coronavirus pandemic has been a huge learning, one drinks business boss has highlighted.
Those of us within the hospitality industry are well aware that we face a staff crisis; there is no disputing that we are experiencing rising worker shortages, with job vacancies at higher-than-ever levels.
By Julian Cox, partner and head of commercial law firm BLM’s London employment team
As bars and pubs plan new workplace practices following the removal of restrictions on 19 July, employees may be nervous about returning to work without Covid safety measures in place.
Boris Johnson’s announcement on Monday (5 July) was obviously a positive one for the hospitality industry and many others who have been repeatedly devastated by the ongoing restrictions and lockdowns that have been imposed on our country.
Achieving a culture of fairness through transparency by pub companies towards their tied tenants is central to the change in the sector the pubs code was created to secure.
By Brendan Padfield, the Unruly Pig, Woodbridge, Suffolk
This pandemic has hit the whole country so hard. Hospitality, as a sector, has perhaps been hardest hit, having been closed for a total of nine and a half months via three lockdowns since March 2020.
By Aliyah Rawat, associate trainer, Good Night Out Campaign
As a London-based trainer for Good Night Out Campaign (GNO), an event producer and DJ, I have seen first-hand the precarious position Covid-19 restrictions has placed the industry in.
I first paid a visit to an LGBTQ pub when I was 18 – I’d just moved to Birmingham to start university and I was introduced to the Village Inn, a central hub of Birmingham’s gay quarter.
The hospitality sector is on tenterhooks over the Government’s proposed roadmap out of lockdown on 21 June – dubbed ‘Freedom Day’ – according to Nigel Parson director, research, at strategic advisory and capital raising service provider Finncap.
Despite leading the Adventure Bar Group into uncharted territory – in every sense – during a transformative pandemic year, co-founder Tobias Jackson explains that with new owner Nightcap eyeing nationwide expansion it’s far from journey’s end.
It’s no secret that that most hospitality businesses are suffering from a staff shortage – yes, even you Mr Martin – but while we look at Brexit and Covid-19 as the perpetrators of the problem, should we be looking closer to home for answers?
As UEFA Euro 2020 kicks off, John Gemmell of the competition’s official beer partner, Heineken, talks pub trade tactics and Scotland’s major tournament return.
After making a long-awaited return to reopened pubs and bars throughout April, Bacardi’s on-trade director Leila Stansfield’s glass is most certainly half full for the weeks and months of on-trade recovery ahead.
Off the back of North Bar/North Brewing Co’s recent win at the 2021 Publican Awards, The Morning Advertiser caught up (virtually of course) with head of retail Fiona Potts just before the company opened its latest venue for outdoor trading.
By James Calder, chief executive of the Society of Independent Brewers
We’ve all seen the pictures of people enjoying pub gardens and brewery tap yards across the UK. You might assume that everything for our industry is getting back to normal.
Ben Gardner, CEO of Navitas Safety, a single destination for digital food safety, explains what the food and hospitality industries can do to reduce food waste and promote a circular food economy.
