Punch says Spirit sale is 'no solution' to M&B's ills
Talks on takeover of managed division end in acrimony M&B issues coded rebuke to Punch for failure to explore potential Spirit sale The...
Archives for April 23, 2008
Getting the message out
Mobile-technology firm Eagle Eye Solutions has developed a clever way of drawing in more punters through drinks promotions. Noli Dinkovski reports...
Conman targets busy pubs
Licensees are being warned to be on the lookout for a bogus salesman offering advertising space on heritage pub crawl posters. The conman, who...
Doing it with Style
Expanding Leeds-based pub operator Suburban Style Bar Company has a reason to make other pubs green with envy. Last year the pubco, which recently...
Punch bans Chancellor from 8,449 pubs
Britain's largest pub company moves to ban Alistair Darling from all of its 8,449 pubs following his devastating budget
Q&A
Friend out of date Q. A friend of my son has set up a retail business and says that he is going to sell packs of beer but without a licence because...
Diary
Budget batters JDW's fish & chips No sooner has City Diary started to enjoy JD Wetherspoon's bargain £2.99 cod and chips afternoon offer (bread...
Meteoric rise
Following its rapid growth over the last 18 months, Noli Dinkovski discovers Kopparberg is ready to capitalise on its unique heritage With provenance...
Foreign TV cards threat to football
Quality of English football "will suffer" Use of cards causing conflict between pubs Foreign satellite cards used by pubs "threaten the lifeblood of...
Outside edge
As summer nears licensees should be choosing the most durable and comfortable outside furniture they can find. Graham Ridout reports This summer...
Focus Midlands: Hobson's Choice
THERE CAN'T be many breweries that had their first successful brew on Easter Sunday (apparently the first attempt on Easter Saturday was a washout)....
A bubbly sector
Despite adverse conditions, cider continues to flourish, as Nigel Huddleston found out It says a lot for cider's market performance in the last five...
Pressing for some pump action
New kinds of draught serve are giving cider more of a presence on bar tops, discovers Nigel Huddleston While the buzz has been about the over-ice...
Host demands PRS refund
Licensee has 10 days to compile song list An irate licensee has demanded a refund on his music licence fee because bands that play at his pub do not...
'£7bn food scam exposed'
Cheap food is being dressed up as top-quality produce in a vast fraud costing shoppers £7billion a year, it is claimed today. There is mounting...
Wells' long-term boost for Mercury
Tamworth-based multiple Mercury Inns has re-opened the Old Coach House in Ashby St Ledgers, Daventry, Northants, in a joint investment with Charles...
Clampdown on off-licence opening hours
Off-licences in Ireland could be forced to close by 10pm and police given powers to seize alcohol from anyone appearing under 18, under tough new...
Strip clubs fight to avoid sex-industry re-licensing
Venues aiming for minimum standards A new trade body for lap-dancing clubs, the Lap Dancing Association (LDA), launched on Monday, is fighting a move...
SIA fails to meet own 80% target for licences
Wilson: "progress not as rapid as I'd hoped" The Security Industry Authority (SIA) says it is still failing to hit its own targets for processing...
MA Cider Report 2008
Around the turn of the century, RTDs were booming and cider, along with other long drinks, was trailing in the wake of an exciting category with a...
Moves
Wellstead steps into corporate finance Colin Wellstead, formerly director and head of public houses and restaurants at Christie+Co, has been...
MPs urged to back local pubwatches
Letter to every constituency stresses how banning can cut pub and club crime National Pubwatch has written to every MP urging support for grassroots...
A fit and proper DPS
Smoke ban rebel Hamish Howitt has highlighted another issue of some importance in licensing: who can object to a designated premises supervisor (DPS)...
My pub juke box
Ian Payne Chairman of Bay Restaurant Group and Town & City Pub Company, chooses his favourite tracks First record bought: Twisting the Night Away...
Punch pledges support for licensees
The managing director of Punch Taverns has defended what she said was a widely-held bad opinion of the company but admitted that it still had a lot...
£400K makeover for Northants pub
An Everards-owned Northamptonshire pub has been transformed with a £400,000 refurbishment as part of a bid to make the group's pubs the "focus of...
Mulholland: Darling is killing pubs
Chancellor Alistair Darling will go down in history as the man who killed the British pub, says Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland
Johnson: London needs alcohol czar
ALMR chief slams the Tory's 'bizarre' idea Tory mayoral candidate Boris Johnson has come under fire for suggesting a London alcohol czar be...
My Shout: Let's hear it for warm fuzzy feelings in pubs
GlassHouse chief executive Peter Linacre considers how the best pubs instill a feeling of inner warmth
The Guv'nor: Kevin Maidens
Why stop at Alistair? Let's ban the lot of 'em, says the licensee of the Blue Bell, Bolsover, Derbyshire
Focus Midlands: On course to grow
LIKE MANY towns which have seen better days as an industrial force, the streets of Stoke-on-Trent present a depressing picture for those who care...
Camra: community pubs are answer to bingeing
Special task force will build positive evidence A new task group is to be formed to trumpet the community pub. Pubs will be shown as the solution to...
Pubs unaware of benefits of going green
Three quarters of small businesses in the UK are blind to the cash-saving benefits of energy efficiency, a leading electricity company has warned.In...
Walsh: fight drink-drive reform
Government plans to halve current limits Tadcaster pub company boss Jim Walsh has called for the trade to fight Government plans to almost halve the...
Pear perception
Getting the message across about the difference between pear cider and perry is a major marketing challenge. Nigel Huddleston reports One of the main...
Rent concessions rise at Punch Taverns
Punch Taverns, the UK's largest pub operator, has had to increase the number of rent concessions it offers its licensees as market conditions...
LGA calls for action to avoid flood repeat
Urgent government action is needed to avoid a repeat of last summer's floods, the Local Government Association has warned. Around 500 pubs were hit...
Light the fire
How many pubs glow all night long with the lights of their AWP machines?How many country roads are lit up at night not by the street lights, but by...
Punch tenant earnings up 11%
The average Punch tenant makes a profit of £40,000 a year, pubco says
Wet sales will buoy up new owners
A 3,600-tonne licensed ferry housing a restaurant and entertainment centre has come onto the market with GA-Select. The Princess Selandia is...
Number of closed Punch pubs "marginally higher
Despite the licensed trade experiencing the toughest trading conditions in years, the number of closed pubs across the Punch Taverns estate was only...
Coulson: Three years on: is it slow progress or no progress?
MA legal editor Peter Coulson considers what impact the licensing laws have had three years on
Trade flows in for Brulines
The use of flow-monitoring kit is one way to help reverse the decline in beer volumes, says The PMA Team With beer volumes in steep decline, it's no...
Kemp: Punch had to change
Punch tenanted boss admits the company had had credibility issues with licensees over some of its BDMs not being good enough
Enlightened times
Light variants are gradually making their mark in the UK. Nigel Huddleston reports So-called "light" alcohol brands have struggled to establish a...
Focus Midlands: Middle kingdom
I don't know anyone who calls themselves a Midlander - the region, as a whole, doesn't have that emotive identity. Yet everyone who lives here is...
Your say
BII backs MA against alcohol duty hikes I totally support your lead and editorial in the Morning Advertiser dated 10 April. I will certainly ensure...
Doing their bit
The cost of running a pub, a pub estate, or a brewery is onerous at the best of times. But in today's tough economy operators are more conscious than...
Not all plain sailing
Shrewsbury-based Shading by Design has a different story to tell than Breeze House when it comes to gaining planning approval. Director Tony Reynolds...
My New Pub
The Royal Oak Lower Farringdon, Hampshire Agent: Howard Day Associates Experienced and well-travelled pub manager Jason Tribe has just taken up the...
Epic excursion to Bohemia
A band of brothers (so to speak) has completed the longest journey — a visit to the Budweiser Budvar brewery — in the face of almost impossible...
OFT rejects new pubco probe
OFT: lease agreements do not raise concerns Situation "extremely worrying," says MP The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has rejected calls for a new...
Extra minimum wage increases will close more pubs
ALMR says the Government's plan to get it off the hook over its 10p tax rate fiasco, will increase pub closures
Taking a bite with the apple
Even though the recent trend has been to serve cider over ice, the time is ripe to match it with something altogether more substantial — like...