Central:
Mug House Claines, Worcestershire "Although it is hard work, this place gets hold of you. When I read the comments in the visitors' book, it makes...
Archives for January 13, 2005
The big crowd-pullers
Saturday, 5 February, 17.30 (BBC1) Wales v England New England coach Andy Robinson has promised his team will play with more width and flair than...
West: Tailors Eating House
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire At first glance, Tailors Eating House could be mistaken for an upmarket restaurant or a posh hotel of the type that can...
Wales: Lion Inn
Trellech, Monmouthshire The Lion Inn enjoyed even more success over the last year with wet sales rising by 14% and food sales by 28%. Tom and Debbie...
Home Counties: Barley Mow
Shepperton, Middlesex In the two years that John and Claire Keary have run the Barley Mow, wet sales have rocketed from around £2,500 per week to...
North: Farmers Arms
Heskin Green, Lancashire Little that goes on in Heskin Green escapes the watchful eyes of veteran licensee Malcolm Rothwell. Malcolm has been in the...
A round with The Publican
What made the news in The Publican this week 10 years ago, five years ago and last year.1995Independent brewers, unhappy with spiralling beer duty...
ALMR announces finalists in Operations Manager Awards
Entrants for the 2005 ALMR Operations Managers Awards have been whittled down to the final 16 as the last stage of judging approaches.Seven area...
New warnings over website following complaints
Licensees have again been warned not to sign up for a website which claims to bring them coachloads of tourists in return for a listings fee and a...
Leicester clean-up stops drunks mid-flow
Drunks caught urinating in the street in Leicester were handed a mop and bucket and told to clean up their mess. Police have warned that patrols...
North: Litten Tree
Blackpool, Lancashire In football terms, pub manager Adrian Clay would be described as a "journeyman", reflecting a 20-year career spent as the host...
Fears grow over blanket smoking ban
There are growing fears that interference from local authorities could yet result in a blanket smoking ban being introduced in many parts of the...
Media brings down our winter warmers
Andrew Jefford reported last week on the lively debate in Camra's (Campaign for Real Ale) newspaper What's Brewing on the subject of the ever-growing...
Keep upholding the old virtues and standards'
As retired licensees we may be enjoying life to the full, but that does not mean that we are out of touch with what goes on in the UK. We only see...
Machines will soon make headlines
It is interesting to note just how much control the justices still exercise over the number of AWP machines allowed on licensed premises. This...
North: Plungington Tavern
Preston, Lancashire Many of the best pub success stories emerge out of adversity and Preston's Plungington Tavern is a prime example. Closed down...
Inland Revenue under fire for regulation of cash tips
by Max Gosney Pub owners have condemned proposed new Inland Revenue guidelines that would allow operators to use service charges to bump up staff...
W&D's Burtonwood legal reform help
Burtonwood's 420 tenants are to have licensing reform legal costs met by new owners Wolverhampton & Dudley in a move that will cost around...
'24-hour drinking' backlash
Conservative Party leader Michael Howard has raised an early day motion (EDM) calling for a delay to the reforms in the new Licensing Act that enable...
Spy in cellar' sheds image, says Nucleus
Beer dispense monitoring systems have apparently shed their "spy in the cellar tag", according to Nucleus Data, which supplies the systems to pubcos....
Wales: The Birchgrove
Caerphilly Road, Cardiff Tim and Pauline Reynolds have been at the Birchgrove for just over two years and right from the start adopted the policy of...
Reform postponement now almost inevitable
Local government and trade unite in face of DCMS inaction by Tony Halstead Pressure is growing on the Government to abandon the 7 February start...
Trio reap rewards at Farmers Arms
A successful pub team has purchased the Farmers Arms that is set in an idyllic village near Ledbury, Herefordshire. Nicholas Calfe, of the Bristol...
Redundancies loom as Regent gears up for possible sale
City rumours of a forthcoming sale of the 71-strong Regent Inns have intensified as the streamlining of the company's HQ operation gathers pace.A...
Poor health forces sale of Devon pub
A popular destination freehouse in a prominent main road position is up for sale in west Devon. "The Harvest Home at Gulworthy is only on the market...
Fancy storing a Vulcan bomber in your yard for a wee while?
A landlord in Stockport has given Snifter an unusual task finding a temporary home for his ex-RAF bomber while he does battle with the Blackpool...
West: Exeter Inn
Ashburton, Devon Jim McNichol plied his trade as a professional footballer first with Ipswich then with Luton, Brentford and Torquay before signing...
Wales: East Bar & Restaurant
Caerphilly Road, Cardiff Fifteen months ago, beer with Indian food took on a new meaning in Cardiff when East Bar & Restaurant opened, replacing...
Hunt for youths after three pub raids
Police believe that one group may have been responsible for armed raids on three pubs across Staffordshire on Tuesday last week. Offenders climbed...
47 Santas didn't fool doorstaff
It's not every day that Santa Claus is deemed a security threat, but then again after a few brews, in a dimly-lit bar, he could possibly be mistaken...
Pear fare
Stephen Terry has worked with Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay and the Roux brothers, but is now happily creating food at a Wiltshire pub. Mark...
West: Royal Oak
South Brent, Devon Andrew and Carol Doree were thrown in at the deep end when they acquired the Royal Oak in December 2002. Andrew recalls: "It was...
North: Spring Inn
Rochdale, Lancashire Licensees John Cadwallader and Carol Holden leave no stone unturned to ensure that the Spring Inn remains at the heart of the...
The knock-on effect
Rugby fans will be out in force from 5 February when the Six Nations kicks off. Ewan Turney gets some tips from licensees on how to turn the...
EU expansion tipped to ease bar staff shortage
by Ewan Turney Recruitment problems could be a thing of the past thanks to the expansion of the European Union (EU) to several Eastern European...
BII to extend membership to licensees in off-trade
The BII is opening up its membership to all alcohol retailers for the first time to reflect the changing face of the licensed sector.The trade's...
Xmas beer sales rise in north and fall in south
by Ewan Turney The north of Britain enjoyed the biggest increase in beer sales over the festive season, with the south suffering a small decline. A...
Coors goes plastic
Coors is launching a new range of plastic glassware' that the brewer says is the cheapest yet and the closest to the conventional pint glass. The...
Take part in our food survey
Be part of an exciting report on pub food being published by the Morning Advertiser's food magazine PubChef. By filling in our questionnaire, which...
Home Counties: Red Lion
Coleshill, Buckinghamshire John Ullman doesn't mince his words. "I feel very privileged to live in the village and run this pub." It seems the...
Legal advice: Paternity rights
Labour proposes to give fathers further entitlements.By Rebecca Caws of thePublican.com's team of legal experts from solicitors Joelson Wilson.There...
Penthouse gets 3am nightclub licence
A top West End of London nightclub that has been the venue of parties for the glitterati has won a late-night drinks extension in the face of...
Deadline passes for SIA licences
Licensees in Leicestershire are being warned to make sure their doorstaff are registered or risk prosecution. The deadline for door supervisors to...
Prostitutes in premises
Q At the licensing sessions last week a new applicant for a transfer was asked who he could not serve. His reply was prostitutes and police in...
West: Green Dragon
Market Lavington, Wiltshire Nicky and Stephen Wragg have rekindled trade in the two years they have been at the helm of the Green Dragon. In that...
Central: The
Marquis Wellington London Road, Leicester Terry Cable has been in the trade for more than 30 years and is from the old school of licensees. "I don't...
Wales: The Heath
Whitchurch Road, Cardiff "The Heath is very much everybody's local," says Mike Farrell who, with wife Margaret, has been running the Brains' managed...
Herald shows its acquisitive Mood
by Tony Halstead and The PMA Team Lancashire-based Herald Inns & Bars, a company linked to leisure entrepreneur Trevor Hemmings, has acquired...
Clock's ticking on fate of drinking up time'
It is still very difficult to predict with any accuracy exactly what will happen to permitted hours under the new regime. As I commented last week,...
Beer tie safeguards satisfies regulators and the City
The Trade and Industry Select Committee's decision that the beer tie should remain for pubcos prompted a surge in share prices among the big...
Camra seeks pub adoption
The Campaign for Real Ale has launched a new "Adopt a Pub" scheme asking consumers to order free National Pubs Week promotional packs todistribute to...
Pubs to the rescue as severe weather hits England
Licensees came to the rescue of residents when devastating floods hit northern England this week.Mark and Karen Messenger of the Enterprise in...
Home Counties: Chequers Inn
Doddington, Kent One of the few signs of modernity on the outside of the 700-year-old Chequers Inn is a small wireless antenna. Inside the Shepherd...
Jones explodes myth of 24-hour trading
A high-street bar-chain boss has called for a blanket terminal hour of 2am to be set for pubs to allay fears of 24-hour boozing and disorder when the...
Battle of the beer brands
Beer suppliers will also be going toe-to-toe when the Six Nations gets under way next month. Ewan Turney reveals the big players and their game plans...
Wellington under fire on insurance
by Ewan Turney Irate Wellington Pub Company tenants have voiced outrage at plans to charge them more than £500 each for a revaluation of the...
Coussins calls for new pub regulatory body
by John Harrington Portman Group chief executive Jean Coussins has called for a Portman-style regulatory body for pubs. Her comments follow the...
North: Black Bull
Wylam, Northumbria Licensee Paul Bowes is a firm believer in the personal touch and his hands-on approach to business at the Black Bull is the one...
New era' paves way for off-trade to join BII
by John Harrington The British Institute of Innkeep-ing to be known in future as simply the BII is now offering membership to the off-trade as...
Wales: Ty Gwyn
Llanfairpwll, Anglesey It's a long road to Anglesey in North Wales especially if you have travelled from Burnley via Majorca, the Isle of Man,...
Home Counties: Ivy House
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire When Anthony and Jane Mears took over the Ivy House in 1996, their aim was to model the Chiltern pub on those...