Invest in the free market
23-Aug-2007
Buying a freehouse remains a holy grail for most licensees who dream of being their own boss. Tony Halstead reports Ask four people to give you their...
£3m funding for Heartstone
23-Aug-2007
Recently-formed Heartstone Inns has raised a further £3m in a second round of private-equity funding, enabling it to rapidly expand its chain of...
Property prices put pressure on pubs
23-Aug-2007 By Tony Halstead THals22851@aol.com
Soaring property prices are posing a new threat to village community pubs, according to BBC's The One Show in a special investigation into the...
Supermarkets face pricing backlash
23-Aug-2007 By John Harrington john.harrington@william-reed.co.u
Supermarkets are facing an unprecedented backlash against their alcohol pricing policies, with senior police and politicians adding to the chorus of...
Heartstone raises a further £3m
16-Aug-2007 By The PMA Team
Recently-formed pubco has raised a further £3 million in a second round of private equity funding
3D to use polycarbs at a third of venues
09-Aug-2007 By The PMA Team
3D Entertainment Group, which runs mainly late-licensed sites, has introduced polycarbonate glasses in around one third of its 90 venues. The...
09-Aug-2007
New licensing minister and past National Pubwatch president Gerry Sutcliffe tells John Harrington that the trade will have to wait on some big...
City stands by for flood costs
01-Aug-2007 By The PMA Team
Uncertainty surrounds the precise cost of the floods to the major pub companies as they struggle to assess the level of damage. One City analyst,...
Triple sting failure may cost host £10k
01-Aug-2007 By John Harrington john.harrington@william-reed.co.u
A Northampton licensee could be the first to face a £10,000 fine and a three-month suspension of his licence for serving under-18s three times...
The asset question: cash, equities or property?
29-Jul-2007 By Hamish Champ
What would you do with a billion quid? Sadly it's a conundrum the vast majority of us are unlikely to find ourselves grappling with. Yet Admiral...
Newcomers: Banking on it.
06-Jul-2007
We headed to see the business manager of the local high street bank hoping to gain finance for the pub lease. The weather was terrible, we were both...
Fundraising in a nutshell
05-Jul-2007
There's no end to the money-raising ingenuity at the Walnut Tree in East Farleigh, Kent, where the pub backs everything from bike rides to a music...
05-Jul-2007 By Andrew Pring
Energy costs may have come down slightly in the past few months, for some licensees at least. But for most people, the hike in utility bills over the...
Mon£y mak£rs
01-Jul-2007
Alison Baker looks at more business-enhancing conceptsOrganic kitchen garden Where: Felin Fach Griffin, near Brecon, Powys, Wales,...
£1m tonic for dying Swan
14-Jun-2007 By Joe Lutrario joe.lutrario@william-reed.co.uk
Marston's has sold the Swan at Ascott-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire, from the El-dridge Pope estate it acquired in January. The business has been...
Banking on the future
07-Jun-2007
Alex Rowland is thinking of buying a leasehold pub, but has concerns about the rent and raising additional finance My wife and I are looking into...
Seven successful years of online trading for barbox.com
07-Jun-2007
Online ordering outfit barbox.com has come a long way since its launch in 2000, and seven years later the company is showing no signs of slowing...
31-May-2007 By Andrew Pring
Young's delivered a sparkling set of full-year results today, with pre-tax profits up 18.5% (post exceptionals) to £12 million and managed house...
12 Ian Payne Laurel chairman (14) Paul Symonds Laurel chief executive (new entry)
31-May-2007
Why they are on the list: Payne made a spectacular return to the trade last year when he replaced Chris Hutt as chairman of Laurel - a company he...
Trade bemoans bank holiday washout
31-May-2007
Licensees across the country are counting the cost of a monsoon bank holiday weekend that washed out hopes of a major financial return for thousands...
Shake up your fortunes
30-May-2007
Barstaff don't need the flair of Tom Cruise in that blockbuster study of the drinks industry Cocktail to profit from mixing drinks. At least that is...
17-May-2007 By John Harrington
Thieves stole £4,000 worth of kegs from a Warwickshire pub just as work was set to start on a secure storage area. The incident highlights how pubs...
Room for growth at Inn for All Seasons
17-May-2007 By Joe Lutrario joe.lutrario@william-reed.co.uk
A highly-desirable Cotswolds freehold has come on to the market for just less than £2m. The Inn for All Seasons, in Burford, Oxfordshire, is on the...
Tasty £2m push for black stuff
17-May-2007
Diageo is investing £2m in a new advertising campaign for Guinness to highlight how the black stuff tastes. The push will include the latest TV...
11-May-2007 By The PMA Team
Brulines, the beer dispense monitoring company, has acquired a 66% stake in Coin Metrics for £685,000. Coin Metrics, founded by Richard Adams and...
Don't sell on price
11-May-2007
Late last month I was talking to Michael Turner, chief executive of Fuller's. We were discussing the supermarket pricing issue and something he said...
What's on the market?
10-May-2007
Seafood luxury Whitby Seafoods has launched two new luxury fish cakes - Thai cod and cod and pancetta. Both products are made with freshly-prepared...
Chris Maclean: staffing the bank holiday weekend
08-May-2007 By Chris Maclean
I get it wrong every bank holiday.My staffing plan is generally pretty good and I usually arrange to have staff when I need them. My style of...
They do it different Down Under, it seems
08-May-2007 By Hamish Champ
The English, it would appear, share more than just a common ancestry with our chums Down Under. The Australian state of Victoria is set to introduce...
Lessee told to pay £30k 'debt'
03-May-2007 By John Harrington john.harrington@william-reed.co.u
A Hampshire lessee owes his pubco more than £30,000 after being lumped with the debts of licensees who had the lease assigned to them. Roger Young...
Banking on justice
03-May-2007
A people's revolt has begun against disproportionate penalty bank charges. The Consumer Action Group explains how to fight your case Nearly three...
Pimm's gets a massive £3.5m summer push across the nation
03-May-2007 By Rosie Davenport rosie.davenport@william-reed.co.u
Pimm's is to receive its biggest support push yet with its first national advertising campaign as Diageo ploughs £3.5m into the summer favourite....
Mon£y mak£rs
01-May-2007
Alison Baker looks at new ideas pubs are trying to pull in tradeBuffet-style curry nights Where: Royal Oak, Poynings, West Sussex The idea: Keen to...
Supermarkets say no to alcohol price rises
26-Apr-2007 By John Harrington john.harrington@william-reed.co.u
Supermarkets have ruled out increasing alcohol prices and said they are not to blame for town-centre binge-drinking. They also refused to be drawn on...
25-Apr-2007
ALMR reveals 60% of a pub's turnover is spent just keeping it open
Bankrupt alcopop maker to be saved
19-Apr-2007 By The PMA Team
An alcopop company that went into administration, despite having a £12m turnover, looks like it might be rescued. Spencers Drinks, of Swadlincote,...
Why do we have listings fees?
19-Apr-2007
The Campaign For Real Ale's (CAMRA) submission to the Competition Commission's investigation of the groceries market includes some damning criticism...
13-Apr-2007 By Ewan Turney
Devon woman opens door for thousands of other licensees to claw back charges
Keep up to date with what's on the market
05-Apr-2007
Brakes' beautiful butties Brakes has launched two new sandwich fillings which are aimed at helping licensees cut down preparation time. Brakes New...
Higher energy bills follow host's protest
05-Apr-2007 By John Harrington john.harrington@william-reed.co.u
A licensee has been told he must pay Opus Energy an extra £1,813 over six months - after he complained about the supplier's excessive charges....
New scheme to 'offset' energy usage
02-Apr-2007
Licensees adding patio heaters outside as they face up to the smoking ban have been handed the perfect riposte to critics who claim they are damaging...
Local produce market
01-Apr-2007
Where: The Canal Inn, Wrantage, Taunton, Somerset The idea: When licensee Pedro Aparicio took over at the Canal three years ago, the pub was in need...
Mon£y mak£r
01-Apr-2007
Alison Baker looks at more innovative food business ideas Cookery demonstrations Where: The Puesdown Inn, Compton Abdale, Gloucestershire The idea:...
Brakes pays a second visit to Barcena
28-Mar-2007
Representatives from Brakes paid a second visit to Barcena on March 14. Mark Irish (senior development chef), Anne Mulcahy (channel marketing...
Chris Maclean: do I pay too much?
20-Mar-2007 By Chris Maclean
I am trying to get my head around gas prices.My cellar gas is provided by a company with great credentials and I pay a cylinder rental plus the...
Pay and holidays to rise this autumn
15-Mar-2007 By John Harrington john.harrington@william-reed.co.u
News that the minimum wage is to increase again in October, roughly in line with the rate of inflation, has met with a mixed reaction from the trade....
Don't make them pay
14-Mar-2007
Forget the Manchester Evening News Arena and the Manchester Academy - the Station Hotel in Ashton-Under-Lyne can make a robust claim that it is...
Sainsbury's chief stands by company's record
01-Mar-2007
One of the biggest names in supermarkets has made a personal response to the accusations made by The Publican's Dump the Deals campaign.Sainsbury's...
The size of the prize
27-Feb-2007
Pubs are changing. But we still don't know just how big the changes are going to be.Smoke is slowly drifting out of the pub door, and the smoking...
Chris Maclean: horse trading
23-Feb-2007 By Chris Maclean
Sunday sees the start of the point-to-point season in the South East. For those who follow the horses this is the entry level competitive racing...
