Publicity machine
Frances Cunningham tells Ewan Turney how a strong marketing strategy has seen sales top £1m at the Swettenham Arms, Congleton, Cheshire How I got...
Archives for April 18, 2007
West is best
Tony Halstead reports on the growing business potential offered by pubs in the West Country The West Country is enjoying a property boom, with house...
NI pubs not ready for ban
Severe delays over planning applications means many of Northern Ireland's pubs are not ready for the smoking ban, a trade leader has warned. With...
InBrief
S&NUK signs Russian beer deal Scottish & Newcastle UK (S&NUK) has signed a deal to brew Russian beer Baltika under licence in the UK. The...
Chris Maclean: sorry about the TV slur
I've had my knuckles wrapped. Quite firmly and quite deservedly. I did wrong.The blog I recently wrote about pubs in this town with televisions was...
John Smith's cheers in style
Aintree saw a fabulous day for last Saturday's 2007 John Smith's celebrated Grand National meeting. In glorious sunshine, a record crowd cheered on...
Trade blasts calls to raise drinking age
Calls for the legal drinking age to be raised from 18 to 21 years have been blasted as "ridiculous" and "stupid" by industry leaders. They said any...
THE AGENTS
Graham Allman Managing director GA Select In my 35 years of pub sales experience I have never known such a vibrant market as we are witnessing now...
Licensing@aol.com
Can we ask for a thug ban? QOver the years we have campaigned hard for the police to take legal action through the Crown Prosecution Service against...
When the smoke clears
It's the last chance saloon for a judicial review of the smoking ban, says Phil Dixon The man was down to his last bullet. He looked across at his...
Brighton pubs face cumulative licensing policy
Pub operators are facing a clampdown on opening new venues in Brighton after the council confirmed it is looking to introduce a cumulative impact...
No quick fixes for noise disturbance
At the beginning of the year on this page I predicted that noise was likely to be a major issue for 2007 - and so it is turning out. It is already...
Pubs ready to do St George proud
Pubs are gearing up for a bumper St George's Day this coming Monday. Licensees across the nation are planning to make St George the patron saint of...
Why do we have listings fees?
The Campaign For Real Ale's (CAMRA) submission to the Competition Commission's investigation of the groceries market includes some damning criticism...
Punch sells 869 pubs to Admiral for £362m
Punch Taverns sells 869 leased and tenanted pubs to Admiral Taverns for £326m.
Opus energy bills drive licensee out
A former Wadworths tenant says he was forced out of his pub by the "crazy" costs charged by under-fire electricity supplier Opus Energy. As licensees...
Pubs in Kingston forced to use polycarbonates
Pubs opening after midnight in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, have been forced to use polycarbonate glasses.Kingston Council claims pubs and...
Countdown starts to Proud of Pubs Week
Get ready for Proud of Pubs Week!The countdown is on for a major initiative The Publican is launching this summer.Licensees across the country are...
NewsDigest
Capital Pub Company (CPC), the EIS-backed London group, has delayed its planned public listing, according to MA's sister publication M&C Report....
As easy as ABCQ
As the final stages of CaskForce approach, Rosie Davenport reports on the vital trade training aspect of the competition Competition prizes don't get...
Camra attack on short pints
The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) has repeated its calls for pubs to serve a full liquid-measure pint to drinkers. The real-ale group claims that one...
St. George encourages feasting
A food historian is encouraging chefs to revive extinct medieval English recipes.
Plan for action-packed week
What a week for sport! Three Premiership sides through to the Champions League semi-finals, two top sides to contest the FA Cup final, and a...
Come together for Proud of Pubs Week
The countdown starts here!In an increasingly faceless society, the Great British Pub is now one of the few places where people can make real human...
Wheel of fortune
The Wheelwrights Arms re-opened in April 2006 in Monkton Combe, a small village just outside Bath. Mark Taylor talks to owner David Munn about how he...
Pub duo star in new TV documentary
Two friends who quit their London jobs to start a new life running a country pub are the subject of a TV documentary to be screened tomorrow. Kevin...
MyNewPub
Vine Tree Inn, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire Agent: Guy Simmonds Trevor Swan and his family have just taken over the Vine Tree Inn in Ross-on-Wye,...
Supermarkets fail to defend themselves over loss-leading alcohol
The Big four supermarkets failed to defend themselves against accusations of loss-leading with alcohol when grilled by top-level MPs at the House of...
Host No2 reclaims £4k bank charges
A Nottinghamshire licensee has successfully claimed back more than £4,000 in penalty bank charges from NatWest. Andy Scattergood, Punch lessee of...
MARKETING MUSCLE
A round-up of the latest campaigns Estrella Damm Anheuser-Busch has brought "the beer of Barcelona", its Estrella Damm Spanish 4.6% abv lager, to the...
BarTalk
Are you hoping to claim back charges from your bank? Steve Haslam Cutter Inn Ely Cambridgeshire It's not something that we really have to deal with,...
Globalisation threatens S&N
There is fevered speculation about a takeover bid for Scottish & Newcastle. For many years, S&N was the Mr Nobody of the brewing world. It...
A breath of fresh air
A smoke-free pub was the destination for the final Plan for the Ban roadshow, and there was plenty of advice on offer. John Harrington reports With...
No butts about it
Outdoor TV screens and providing suitable ashtrays could go hand in hand with shelters as pubs seek to keep smokers happy, says Graham Ridout Come...
LETTERs
Snifter goes star-gazing Has Snifter been gazing at stars or reading tea-leaves? I was shocked to see your back-page story (MA, 5 April 2007)...
Nobody up for grabs at £1.6m
A Devon freehold that has scooped more than 35 awards for the quality of its food, drink and accommodation is up for sale, with a price tag of...
As the smoke starts clearing
Further rules on smoke-free premises and vehicles were published by the Department of Health last month. Although they do not give additional help on...
Police get heavy on glass bans
Police warn licensees in Fareham, Hampshire, to ditch glass or face the consequences Licensees who refuse police requests to switch to plastic...
London Town: tenants first
London Town, the Aim-listed commercial property business than now owns 225 tenanted pubs, is determined to become a "tenant-centred" pub company,...
CESA coffee
Hot beverages offer great profit margins for a pub. Ingredients cost a few pence and selling price can be well in excess of £1. Most out-of-home hot...
Thwaites makes clear it's not for sale
Daniel Thwaites, the Lancashire-based brewer and pub operator, has celebrated its 200th anniversary by declaring it is not for sale and setting out a...
Pub food mark-up 'too light'
Pubs are being encouraged to be less modest with their profit margins post-smoking ban. With dining out set to increase after 1 July, research...
Midori given new look and taste
Melon liqueur Midori will have a new bottle and improved recipe in the UK from May as part of a £20m global investment over the next five years. To...
Bankrupt alcopop maker to be saved
An alcopop company that went into administration, despite having a £12m turnover, looks like it might be rescued. Spencers Drinks, of Swadlincote,...
Smoking ban survey paints rosy picture
One in two pub-going non-smokers say they will visit community pubs "much more often" when smoking is banned, a new survey by Carlsberg UK has shown....
MyShout
Sport will lose out, argues Stephen Crawley, if there is a ban on alcohol sponsorships I saw snippets of the John Smith's Grand National on the TV on...