Two for One launches create-your-own-steak offer
Two for One — Spirit's value food offer — is launching a create-your-own-steak meal across its 130 sites. The new offer will be launched on 20...
Archives for May 7, 2008
Live and let die
There are too many pubs and bars and only the market can decide which will survive The father of free-market economics, Adam Smith set out in his...
Comment: A raw deal
"Three bottles of Chablis for a tenner". The words are still ringing in my ears. A contact of mine just rang to chew the fat and mentioned the fact...
Back to Basics: Hosting comedy
Heard the one about the pub that hosted comedy? It pulled in the punters and made a barrel (o' laughs) full of money.More and more pubs are turning...
Pints rise 10p after duty hikes
23% of pubs still hadn't raised prices by 1 May Managed operators have delayed rises Most pubs put 10p on a pint after this year's Budget. But around...
A spent force?
Licensed Victuallers' Associations (LVAs), once a mainstay of the pub industry, are suffering shrinking membership lists. Many fear they could soon...
Chris Maclean: If you want to get ahead - ban hats
The first time I was ever thrown out of a pub it was for wearing a T-shirt. Nothing too serious then. But it was almost 30 years ago - simple as...
Your say
Flexible rents are way forward for pubs With reference to the editor's leader "What's fair and maintainable?" (MA, 24 April), I have a few comments....
The Guv'nor Dennis Griffiths
Let's stop this legal madness and talk A man saw a pig with two wooden legs. He asked the farmer why. "Well", said the farmer, "we quite like the...
Enterprise Inns given go-ahead to convert to a REIT
Enterprise Inns' shares rocketed yesterday after the pubco confirmed it had been given the green light to convert to a real estate investment trust...
Legal advice: Changes to employment law in spring 2008
IT IS springtime in employment law land and the initial crop of new laws is coming through nicely. Cultivated in the darkness, and fertilized heavily...
Menu prices rising at 'alarming pace'
Some main meals exceed £15, veg extra The editor of Alastair Sawday's Pubs & Inns of England & Wales guide warns that menu prices are...
Alternative use drives town sales
An increasing diversity of prospective buyers are looking to purchase pubs in town centres for potential alternative uses. That is the view of Pub...
Thatchers pumps it up
Thatchers is tapping into the growing cider market by introducing a draught version of its popular Pear Cider. The Somerset cidermaker launched Pear...
Kitchen kitsch
Greene King licensee Heath Ball talks yummy mummies, retro dishes and whisky collecting with Lucy Britner Chicken in a basket is back. But, in the...
Liquid lunch is a thing of the past
Survey shows tea time is now tipple time Britons are shunning lunchtime drinking in favour of a tipple at tea time on the way home from work, a...
Make time to boost business
With the Morning Advertiser's Pub Business show less than two weeks away, we look at how you can benefit from spending just a couple of hours at the...
Brains close to new Welsh rugby dea
Brewer in final stages of negotiations Welsh brewer SA Brain is close to renewing its four year sponsorship of the Welsh rugby union team. SA Brain...
Bar Talk
How was trade over the Bank Holiday weekend? Ian Rigg The Taps Lytham Lancashire Absolutely brilliant. We had the first decent weather this year...
REITs could spark pubco deals
The tax authorities' decision to grant Enterprise Inns the right to convert into a real estate investment trust (REIT) could signal a new phase of...
Steve Tucker, director, Humberstones
Like many recent MA contributors, I have spent a lifetime in the licensed trade starting at the tender age of 19 as an off-licence manager for...
Q&A
Smoking at home Q. We have a freehold pub that we own and live in as our home. We have no staff. Could you please clarify the rules regarding smoking...
My New Pub The Three Horseshoes
Allensmore, Herefordshire Agent: Christie+Co Jason Ratcliffe has taken over the Three Horseshoes after four years as assistant manager. His parents,...
My pub juke box
Trade consultant Phil Dixon chooses his favourite tracks Christmas Day 1963 brought with it a Dansette record player, closely followed by The Buddy...
Moves
Brennan appointed to Hydes finance role Manchester-based Hydes Brewery has appointed Claire Brennan as financial controller. Brennan joins the...
Thwaites pub hours victory
Brewer Daniel Thwaites has won a benchmark legal ruling which could severely limit the ability of local residents to oppose extended pub opening...
Spirit aims for 43 Good Night Inns sites by 2009
Boss Giles Thorley has indicated that Punch's managed division will beat tough trading conditions through innovation. Jo Bruce looks at some of the...
'Boris bans booze on buses and tube'
Drinking alcohol is to be banned on London buses and the Underground from next month as part of a New York-style "zero tolerance" approach to crime...
Enterprise Inns can convert to a Reit
HMRC says Enterprise can convert to tax efficient Reit status
Perfect storm for pub beer
Are the disastrous on-trade beer sales in March and April the shape of things to come or merely a short-term blip? John Harrington reports On the...
Getting his kicks from life
Never one to be in the passenger seat, Global Brands MD Steve Perez tells Noli Dinkovski how his single-minded approach to business drives him...
Grill House format unveiled
Spirit Group has launched a new fresh-food format called Grill House Kitchen, with plans for up to 50 sites. Spirit managing director Andrew Knight...
Business boosters
Ideas for driving food sales at your pub Big catch Where: the Wensleydale Heifer, West Witton, North Yorkshire www.wensleydaleheifer.co.uk The idea:...
China in your hand
Traditionally, pub customers have only eaten Chinese food in the takeaway once time has been called. So publicans might be forgiven for taking some...
Top team at the Hogget
A multi-award-winning team have taken on the Hogget, near Hook, Hampshire. Formerly the Dorchester Arms, the site has just re-opened following a...
Ask An Expert: Taking a tenancy
I've heard that taking a tenancy is a low-cost route to running my own pub. Is there a catch?If you want to run your own pub a traditional tenancy...
Hydes buys £3m complex
Manchester brewer Hydes is to launch its biggest ever development to create a new pub and restaurant complex at Hyde in Cheshire. The family-owned...
Heineken trials oversize glasses
Move aims to calm low-yield concerns Camra says most pints are 10% short Heineken is undertaking field trials of oversize glassware within pubco...
Doorstaff caught working with expired licences
Doorstaff in the North East of England have been caught working with expired door supervisor licences. The news follows complaints from licensees...
Diary Special
O brother, where art thou? The real news this year from The Sunday Times' much-thumbed annual list of Britain's super rich was not who was in it, but...
Facts crucial for pub hours cut
Earlier this week, judgment was delivered in an important case on the weight to be given to residents' fears over later hours for pubs. Those who...
Pubcos ride out the downturn
Shares in publicly-quoted pubcos have had a torrid 12 months, performing poorly compared to the overall market. Caroline Muspratt reports Between the...
Elliott: Enough moaning — let's have some action
Enough moaning — let's have some action Reading the daily papers over the past few days, anyone in the licensed trade could be excused for thinking...
Mark Daniels: Pubs don't do cheap booze. But supermarkets do.
Well, let's scrap that last one, shall we? Although I did find my missing safe keys and thirty five quid in a pair I dug out of the wardrobe on...
Digest
Blanc's TV winners quit pub The winners of Raymond Blanc's TV series, The Restaurant, have quit the Thatch, in Thame, Oxfordshire. Jeremy and Jane...
British Gas error decimates trade
Licensee takes action on 'appalling' bills A licensee suffered 18 months of hell after a billing blunder meant he couldn't afford to heat his pub...