Wine Focus: Build on the basics
Estee Lauder, the founder of the eponymous cosmetics company, once said: "If you don't sell, it's not the product that's wrong, it's you." That's...
Archives for September 26, 2007
No escape route for smokers
I have been taken to task by one reader for suggesting in a recent answer to a question that a public house is not a public place. She claims her...
Lager touts need to up the ante
If necessity is the mother of invention, beleaguered brewers need to employ all the surrogates they can get - and quick. Two exceptional years on the...
Wine Focus: Simply corking!
The secret to success in the wine and pubs market is not as simple as conquering the merchandising and training problems. To be honest, there are so...
Wine Focus: Selling it better
I have strong views about the wine market in pubs. And for some time now I've been telling any poor person in the industry who will listen that there...
Scottish licensees facing "tsunami" of legislation
Scottish licensees face a "tsunami" of bureaucracy after next February's launch of the lengthy transition to the new Licensing (Scotland) Act, an...
Sources of conflict when a tenancy ends
Following on from my article on landlord and tenant relationships last week, there is another area which, if anything, is the most damaging aspect...
MyShout
If the Scots gave up eating deep-fried Mars bars I'd believe in their new found health, says Stephen Oliver If my head's in the oven and my arse is...
Councils calling for risk assessments
A number of local authorities are calling for pubs to supply a risk assessment when applying for a new licence or varying their existing one. The...
InBrief
M&B trials energy saving devices Mitchells & Butlers is trialing a series of energy-saving devices in its new Toby Carvery in Banbury,...
Edinburgh licensees slam seating plans
Licensees in Edinburgh have expressed serious concern over council plans to force licensed premises to provide seats for at least 50% of drinkers....
M&B's Karim Naffah gets board's "full support
Despite mounting hedge-related losses resulting from its postponed property joint venture with R20, Karim Naffah, Mitchells & Butlers' (M&B)...
Smoke ban rebels defy councils to fight on
Smoke ban rebels Hamish Howitt and Nick Hogan are vowing to continue to fight on despite enduring battles to save their pubs after wrangles with...
M&B sees upturn after ban
Mitchells & Butlers has reported an increase in like-for-like sales since the smoking ban was introduced. The company also said it would press on...
Trade needs a unified front
Trade bodies never get a particularly good press. The sheer impossibility of stopping the torrent of red tape and misguided initiatives that streams...
THE AGENTS
Richard Payne Senior negotiator Caldicott Payne Caldicott Payne is involved with a vast amount of tenant recruitment and acquisition for Punch...
Scottish beer slips south
For readers of this paper, Scotland - like Czechoslovakia in the 1930s - is a small, faraway country of which we know little, at least where beer is...
Roaring success
With imaginative menus and great service, Alex Clarke has set high standards at the Red Lion in Hinxton, Cambridgeshire. David Hancock reports Why my...
Diageo's new bottling line
A new £12m Johnnie Walker bottling line at Diageo's Shieldhall plant in Govan, Glasgow, has been opened, marking the completion of a major...
Licensing@aol.com
Deceased licence holder Q A colleague has died suddenly while on holiday. For some reason his wife was not named on the licence. What is the legal...
Magners launches light version
A reduced-calorie version of Magners Irish cider is being launched into the UK on-trade. Magners Light has the same 4.5% abv as the regular brand but...
Trade fears cheap booze bonanza
Trade groups and pub retailers fear supermarkets could be preparing for a Christmas bonanza of cheap alcohol and drinks promotions. Some fear prices...
24-hour u-turn dismissed as hype
Trade groups have dismissed media reports that Gordon Brown is set to do a U-turn on the new Licensing Act, claiming his comments are just...
Business Opinion
Reversing the fall in British beer sales I spent half a day last week debating the issue of yields and beer quality with members of the Operations...
John Dunsmore appointed S&N chief executive
John Dunsmore, Scottish & Newcastle's (S&N) Western Europe boss, is to replace Tony Froggatt as chief executive of the group.The UK's largest...
Going Dutch
traces the story of a Dutch brewery that is planning to make serious inroads into the UK on-trade It was during the football World Cup in Germany...
Ultimate set to pause on deals
Ultimate Leisure, which is set to be re-named Premium Bars & Restaurants after its annual general meeting in November, is likely to wait six...
'All you can drink' deals under fire
THE RETURN of 'all you can drink' deals in bars across the UK has been slammed by the trade.The Publican has learned that a number of premises are...
NewsDigest
The Licensed Victuallers' School, in Ascot, Berks, is running a Christmas activity camp for kids - with a 50% discount for those who work in the...
Room at the top
Barracuda manager Maxine Blake tells Ewan Turney how good training helped smash targets at the Cutting Room in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire How I...
Owen headache for England
Newcastle United's win over West Ham last Saturday was tarnished by Michael Owen's enforced substitution, blamed on a recurring groin injury. Owen...
Stuffing the supermarkets
More than 10 brewers and a pubco have offered their support to licensee Tony Brookes and his bid to "Stuff the Supermarkets" at their own game in the...
BarTalk
What do you think of Gordon Brown's review of licensing reform? John Ellis Crown Inn Oakengates Shropshire I wonder if Gordon Brown will look at...