Over-valuing 'lowers' prices
Over-valued pubs are a massive problem for the industry, according to agents. GA-Select managing director Graham Allman said that excessive...
Archives for August 30, 2006
Host fined record £9,000 for spirit substitutions
A Leicestershire host has been fined a record £9,000 for selling cheaper spirits as well-known brands of gin, vodka and rum. The Bell Inn at Market...
Live music - band aid for pubs
There was a time when licensees could take a casual approach to live music - but that was last year. Since the new licensing regime came in, putting...
Pathfinder curtails Sky to save £1.5m
Pathfinder, Wolves & Dudley's managed arm, is set to save more than £1.5m on subscription fees after removing Sky from 130 of its pubs. The move...
Loud and proud
One year on from the launch of The Publican's Proud of Pubs campaign the proud message of the pub industry is now being spread far and wide. While...
Family wins case against Punch
A couple whose dreams of running a pub were shattered when they were forced out with stress and ill health, have won a court case against...
Mr Punch shows the way to do it
Google "Giles Thorley" and the search results range from the usual stuff on Punch Taverns through to disgruntled retailers venting their collective...
Railway Hotel
If you're one of those people who's been wondering what happened to the 24-hour drinking society, then look no further. Nigel Jones, owner of the...
RENTWATCH
A Punch licensee has run up £10,000 worth of debt inside three months of taking on a run-down pub in Pool, Cornwall. Dianne Thompson paid £56,000...
Creative thinking
Apart from the horse brasses and the floral red carpet, what's the first thing to go when an enterprising couple enter the pub game and head down the...
Three Fishes
The Three Fishes arrived on the pub scene two years ago when restaurateurs Craig Bancroft and Nigel Haworth opened the country roadside inn which had...
Pubs urged to back good veal campaign
Veal should be back on the menu in pubs, say chefs aiming to overturn the negative image of the meat from young calves.A campaign for good veal has...
MyShout
Stephen Crawley says the Camra-run GBBF is a great event - but ponders about making it a winter event
DoneDeals
The Volunteer Inn Seavington St Michael Somerset Peninsula Commercial has sold the Volunteer Inn at Seavington St Michael near Illminster. The...
Bite the bullet on contracts
In spite of the encroachment of red tape, which has led many licensees to spend more time in the office than in the bar, some backwaters still appear...
Why Birdcage will be model business
A model is set to breathe new life into a notorious old pub. Lauren Gregory, 24, aims to transform the old Pottergate Tavern into a bohemian...
Brewers hit out at guest beer push
Family brewers are fighting back against a campaign aimed at giving licensees the right to serve guest beers in their pubs.The Campaign for Real Ale...
PickoftheWeek
Blue Bell Belmesthorpe Lincolnshire Price: £525,000 Tenure: Freehold Wet:dry: 100% wet Agent: Christie+Co 0115 9483100 The Blue Bell is three miles...
Licensing@aol.com
Where residents can drink QWe were visited by police officers at 11.45pm last Friday, on their way back from supervising other pubs nearby. A couple...
The Punch Bowl
It's little over a year since the Punch Bowl was taken over by the team behind the legendary Drunken Duck, in league with two friends and Crosthwaite...
M&B estate valued at £5.5bn
Rising property prices have pushed the value of Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) estate to more than £5.5bn.The UK's biggest managed pub group,...
THE AGENTS
I guess I must be what's known as an industry "greybeard". However as a trade "influencer" I have a finger firmly on the industry's pulse, working...
The GUV'NOR
With knowledge gathered from working 30 years in the licensed trade and my forthcoming retirement after 27 years at the Cherry Tree, Rowledge,...
Licensees complain about tourist directory
A Fresh raft of complaints about a tourist directory targeting licensees has come into The Publican. Pubs across the UK are still being sent...
Critics wrong to condemn all
Lucy Mangan, a journalist with The Guardian, had a pop at pub food last week. As a result of being served a bad beef sandwich in a pub in...
Agents: smoke-free plans help sell pubs
Go smoke-free now, if you're thinking of selling your pub. Smoke-free businesses will be easier to sell than pubs that still allow smoking, according...
BrandsBriefs
Tanqueray gin has top taste Tanqueray has been voted the best-tasting gin in a survey which questioned 127 bartenders in 100 bars nationwide. The...
More casualties of Inn-Direct come forward
More victims of Bradford-based training company Inn-Direct have been contacting The Publican after paying thousands of pounds only to be left in...
Stars in bars
Cricket legend Ian Botham What is your favourite pub? O'Brien's off of Upper Leeson Street is the greatest pub in Dublin. The owner, Peter, has been...
Licensee fined record £9,000 for "tipping
A Leicestershire licensee has been hit with a record £9,000 fine for substituting spirit brands for cheaper alternatives. Ghassan Fakih, licensee at...
Box clever
Pull sports fans out of their armchairs and into your pub by making the best of what's on the box. But make sure your equipment's no featherweight
Satellite soccer - sort it out
Some people believe in UFOs. Some believe that miracles really do happen. And some believe that you can show football from a foreign satellite...
M&B to segment Vintage Inns brand
Mitchells & Butlers is to segment one of the most profitable casual-dining brands in Europe as part of the ongoing development of its country pub...
'DON'T QUOTE ME ON THAT'
Beer volumes are only going in one direction - slowly down. This trend applies across the board, not just the on-trade, and, coupled with a decline...
The Gun
The Gun might be a relative newcomer to the scene, opening its doors in its current guise two years ago, but it's steeped in a history that dates...
Trouble in store for new smoking dens
The comments by Councillor Geoffrey Theobald of LACORS, the local authority regulatory body, in his letter to the MA last week on the smoking ban are...