DCMS attacked over licensing guidance delay
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has come under fire for a further delay over the guidance to the Licensing Act. A 12-week public...
Archives for October 4, 2006
Outside areas facing squeeze
Fresh concerns have emerged over a possible threat to outside smoking areas under next year's ban. Submissions to the consultation on the details of...
MyNewPub
New owners Martin, Sarah and Philip Barnaville paid £575,000 for the freehold interest of the Olde Yew Tree Inn. The trio own the Kestrel Inn at...
Licensee offers Polish translation of regulation
Most publicans will admit to occasionally struggling with the sheer weight of red tape and regulation that burdens the industry. So imagine how much...
Legal advice: You must manage contractor risks
Many publicans will be thinking of carrying out work to their pubs to either improve their fire safety arrangements or to help them comply with the...
FoodBriefs
UK well represented in US contest Pub chefs are strongly represented in the Best of Britain BBQ team heading out to the Jack Daniel's World...
Pub trade body calls for fairness in smoking fines
The chief executive of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers is calling on the Government to be fair with fines for smoking after the ban...
THE AGENTS
Demand for freehold licence premises is still extremely strong and the rise in interest rates has not affected this in a major way. However, we have...
Classic service
Spirit's category manager Alison Riddington says that quality is the key to sales
Publican Conference line-up announced
In many circles the very mention of the word conference can bring people out in hives.The idea that anyone running a busy pub business, be they an...
AWP prize money set to rise
The maximum stake and prize money for AWP machines in pubs is set to rise on October 27. The long-awaited increases mean that the maximum stake will...
No half measures
A growing number of pubs have been tempted into believing that, where spirits are concerned, there really is a substitute for the real thing. But as...
Talks to sell end as Laurel restructures
Laurel Pub Company has signalled the end of talks to sell as many as 150 sites by re-structuring its business. The company had been involved in...
How do I take on pubco over 67% rent rise?
I have run a country pub in a village for nearly four years on a fully-tied lease with a pubco. I paid £75,000 for the 25-year lease and the rent...
Fears rise over new guidance
Confidence is not high that the redrafted Licensing Act guidance notes will be up to scratch despite a further delay in their release. The Department...
Cheers
Top Gun's benevolent rivals are buddies Snifter donned his best tweeds to ride up to Holland and Holland shooting club in Middlesex for the Buddies...
Oliver's musical Pedigree is out
Musical talent tends to run in families, but Snifter still felt taken aback to hear that Steven Oliver, the saxophone-playing boss of the Union Pub...
In the line of duty
As if the smoking ban and licensing changes haven't given pubs enough to worry about, licensees also have to keep an eye on their spirits packaging...
The end of the line for bad service
Last week when I phoned my own pub, the Bay View Inn in Bude, Cornwall, a flat voice at the other end mumbled: "Hello can you hang on a...
Pubs 2B Inn couple 'earned £62 a year'
A Bradford couple say they earned just £62 between them in a year as pub managers with Pubs 2B Inn at the Black Horse in Hellifield, Yorkshire....
Licensees in uproar over discrimination fine
The managers of an Oxfordshire pub have hit out at receiving a massive fine after a man successfully claimed he was refused service because he is a...
Countering the claims
In today's litigious society, pubs must take precautions against compensation claims for minor trips and slips
Keeping spirits high
The spirits market is under pressure. Nigel Huddleston reports
Focus on Meat: What's your beef?
If the steak you serve is whisked direct to your customers' plates from the prime herd belonging to the farm next door, why not shout about it?...
Brighten up your serve
At about £2.50 a go, a spirit and mixer is not one of the cheapest options on offer to customers at the bar. When shoppers can buy a bottle of their...
Silver lining to LESG saga - MA Editor Andrew Pring
London & Edinburgh Swallow Group's collapse has been a nightmare for licensees caught up in the demise of this deeply flawed operation. But our...
LESG hosts face direct rent deal
Hundreds of London & Edinburgh Swallow Group (LESG) licensees face the extraordinary prospect of a direct relationship with the freehold owner of their pub in the wake of the company's collapse.
Autumn has arrived - has your licence?
MA legal expert Peter Coulson on the continuing licence fiasco
'DON'T QUOTE ME ON THAT' - buyers on brands
My first encounter with Foster's Twist almost gave me a nasty cut. I assumed that it would have a screw top, but it has a seriously sharp metal...
Dispensing with good taste
Dispenser is not a nice word. And when it is coupled with the term beverage it results in a phrase that when bandied about a public house deserves...
Can-do culture
Beam is buzzing with energy. Rosie Davenport reports
Pubs to pay for street smoking
Oxfordshire hosts have been told to pay £500 a year to have tables outside their pub - as part of a crackdown on street smoking ahead of the smoking...
Trust Inns to set up smoke-ban budget
Lancashire-based Trust Inns plans to set aside a sizeable budget to help licensees prepare for next summer's smoking ban. Tenants who need...
Yorkshire licensees claim harsh treatment by pub company Pubs 2B Inn
Licensees Brian and Pauline Parker and local residents are planning a protest outside their pub claiming they are being treated unfairly by pub...
Newcomers scoop top retail award
Mark Slann and Vicki Edwards-Slann of Strutts in Derby were crowned top newcomers after doubling their annual sales target at the Pathfinder Pubs...
Beda chief slams smoking 'shambles'
Trade group leader Paul Kinsey has slammed the mounting volume of regulation being heaped on the industry, culminating in the "shambolic" lead-in to...
Rental values under threat
Westminster Council's approach to late licensing is reducing rental values in the West End. Leisure property specialist Shelley Sandzer is dealing...
Rush to offer food 'may hit standards'
Too many pubs are serving poor quality food, according to the new Which? Good Food Guide 2007 editor Andrew Turvil.
A King among men
The Kings Arms was packed out to welcome former England football star Phil Neal after licensee Hilary Timms won a competition run by the MA and Carlsberg. Iain O'Neil was there
The Elephant never forgets
One London pub sponsors local football teams and even joins the regulars on holiday. Jo Grobel meets the latest winner of our Heart of the Community pub honours
The GUV'NOR
Is motivation the thing that makes us get up in the morning and go to work, or is it just the pay packet at the end of the week? Money motivates us...
Winter warmers
November is a bit of a lean month - people are still paying for their summer holidays and want to curb their spending before Christmas. This tends to...
Food for thought as freehold up for sale after 28 years
A couple who have been at the same pub for 28 years are selling their freehold. Chris and Rosemary Anderson moved into the White Hart at Lissington,...
It's nice to have the last laugh - Roger Protz
There's an old Gershwin song called "They All Laughed" that contains such lines as: "They all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world...
Trade: smoke ban rules must be fair
Two influential trade bodies have called for national guidance for councils to ensure the smoking ban is enforced uniformly. Business in Sport and...
Test-purchase sting set to target venues
Another round of test- purchase operations will target pubs this month, according to a leading licensing solicitor. Although a Home Office-backed...
More fuel to the TV footy fire - Peter Coulson
MA legal expert on the confusion surrounding foreign satellite football.
Double celebration for 90-year-old host
A Shepherd Neame lessee has good reason for a double celebration - 70 years in the trade and her 90th birthday. Rhona Barnett, of the Rose in June at...
Proud of Your Staff: Fisherman's Retreat, Lancashire
The barstaff at the Fisherman's Retreat, in Ramsbottom, Lancashire, are, according to licensee Hervey Magnall, "some of the best in Britain".The...
BarTalk
Will cider continue to be popular next year?