| Whitbread's pubs show signs of recovery | | Posted Wednesday, December 13, 2006 1:21:33 PM by Blog57 Team | | Whitbread boss Alan Parker says he is particularly pleased by the improved trading of the groups pub restaurant business. In a trading statement for the first 39 weeks of its financial year, Whitbread said its pub restaurants had seen a total sales increase of 2.1 per cent during the period. The group said recent like-for-like growth had been positive. .... | |
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| | | Stopping alcohol sales to under-18s | | Posted Tuesday, November 14, 2006 7:35:19 AM by Blog57 Team | | More than 40 off-licences, shops and pubs face having their licences to sell alcohol reviewed after an operation targeting retailers who sell to underage drinkers. Police and Trading Standards ran a joint investigation into the sale of alcohol to under-18s over a three week period in 27 hotspots across England and Wales. Targeting businesses suspected of illegal sales, investigators visited 224 shops and bars with young 'purchasers' posing as shoppers trying to buy alcohol. All the businesses were visited more than once, and while most shops and bars rightly refused to sell alcohol to minors on every occasion, 42 of them never challenged the youthful purchasers, even after they were made aware that the operation was underway. Those retailers will now have their licences reviewed by local authorities, and could face restrictions of their licence to sell alcohol or could have their licences revoked altogether.... | |
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| | | Scottish pubs target underage sales | | Posted Wednesday, November 08, 2006 3:13:32 PM by Blog57 Team | | Scotland pubs are targeting underage drinks with the launch of the Challenge 21 initiative. The Scottish Beer & Pub Association (SBPA) followed the England and Wales lead to launch the campaign which highlights the fact the if you are 21 or under you should now expect to be asked for ID to prove you are over 18. Posters are set to go up in pubs across the country to help tackle the problem of underage sales. .... | |
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| | | Pubs Group Weathers Storm | | Posted Friday, November 03, 2006 11:47:12 AM by Blog57 Team | | Business in Scotland has picked up for pubs group JD Wetherspoon despite the ban on smoking. Sales in the country rose 5.2% in the 13 weeks that followed the March ban. Overall, Wetherspoon reported a 9.7% rise in first-quarter sales to 220.4m. Pubs have dealt with the ban by building shelters for smokers in their gardens and forecourts. However, many fear the Scottish winter will prove too harsh for smokers who might shun the pub for a few cans of beer in front of the TV. CEO John Hutson said that, across the group's pub estate, including Scotland, about two-thirds of venues had outside areas for smokers. That was, however,"with the notable exception of places like Glasgow". The group has banned smoking in 56 pubs in England and Wales ahead of a national ban expected in mid-2007.... | |
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| | | Pound stretcher | | Posted Saturday, October 28, 2006 3:23:37 PM by Blog57 Team | | Around 80% of the bars and pubs in Tamworth charge just one pound for the majority of draught products every Thursday night. Not surprisingly, this has made it one of the busiest nights of the week. In one bar the manager commented that people now come in on a Thursday and ask what offers are on before they decide what to drink. The beer in red Diageo are trialling a red version of Guinness in some UK pubs. The rosy glow is achieved by lightly roasting the barley in the brewing process. Diageo say that it is well balanced and bittersweet and circa 4.1% abv, like the traditional black version. Surf n Cider Magners is showing no sign of slowing down in Newquay. Town centre bar, Red Square, claim that they still sell, on average, 15 cases a week. Most venues reported a continuing decline in Ready to Drink sales.... | |
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| | | Australia's Woolworths Q1 sales up 21 pct | | Posted Monday, October 23, 2006 7:06:50 AM by Blog57 Team | | MELBOURNE, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Australia's largest retailer, Woolworths Ltd. , posted a 21 percent rise in first quarter sales boosted by its Foodland grocery and Taverner pubs acquisitions, and maintained its full-year earnings guidance. It said the result was also driven by strong comparable revenues from its major Australian food and liquor division, which provides about two-thirds of total sales. Woolworths has pulled ahead of rival Coles Myer Ltd. in expanding in food and liquor. Coles last week rejected an A$18.2 billion ($13.8 billion) takeover proposal from a private equity consortium. Woolworths shares eased 0.6 percent to A$20.60 in early Monday afternoon trade, in a wider market up 0.1 percent. "It is a consistent sales result, as we have come to expect from this company," BT Financial portfolio manager Sondal Bensan said.... | |
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| | | British Couple Sets Up Post Office In Kitchen | | Posted Sunday, October 22, 2006 1:23:13 PM by Blog57 Team | | Devon, England (AHN) - A couple from Ashreigney in the English county of Devon has set up their local post office in their kitchen. According to The Sun, Steve and Sue Kingston have turned one of their worktops into a counter. Customers can use the Kingston's front door to transact business, while the couple cook around the equipment in between serving their clients. The 53-year-old Sue said, "We eat meals, feed the dog and make drinks there as normal. It was that or lose the post office." It is the only community facility left in the village since the local pub and shop closed. There were only 445 people living in the village. A spokeswoman for the Post Office said, "There are post offices in pubs, churches and front rooms, but I've never heard of one in a kitchen.... | |
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| | | Welsh Cool | | Posted Wednesday, October 18, 2006 11:10:00 AM by Blog57 Team | | According to a local manager, Wrexham's two Wetherspoon's pubs are the first in the country to sell only keg beer which is cold filtered and distributed through all-in-one taps. Waiter(ess) Service The Chef & Brewer chain are trialing full waiter service at selected outlets across the country on Thursdays through Sundays. The effects of Global Warming? It looks like Magner's sales are not slowing down, at least according to the Hogshead in Saleeven, even though summer is far behind us. They can't order enough of the stuff and its way ahead in the league of packaged product sales. Licensees across Yorkshire and the North East have also found themselves pleasantly surprised as winter approaches. Most licensees expected the popularity of Magner's to cool off with the weather, but the bottled cider is still selling as well as it has all year.... | |
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| | | Closing time for 12 more London & Edinburgh pubs | | Posted Friday, October 13, 2006 11:09:29 AM by Blog57 Team | | Ernst & Young, administrators for the collapsed hotels and pub operator London & Edinburgh Swallow Group, have closed another 12 managed pubs with the loss of around 80 jobs. The latest move follows a number of closures made since the company went into administration on September 14, since when, according reports from the Mail on Sunday, the London & Edinburgh Inns chairman, Alan Bowes, has gone into hiding in Edinburgh. The report also claims Mr Bowes has dyed his hair to avoid being recognized. .... | |
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| | | Pubs expect profit to go up in smoke | | Posted Sunday, October 08, 2006 3:08:39 AM by Blog57 Team | | Pubs and clubs in Dubbo are bracing for a significant profit loss once a total smoking ban comes into effect in licensed premises across the State next July. Recently released figures from the Queensland Government have shown that for the first two months of the ban club and hotel income has fallen in nine different regions across the State. Dubbo RSL general manager Geoffrey Holland said the figures suggested the industry in NSW was set to head down the same path and lose money under the changes. "Evidence gathered from other states indicates a various percentage of loss from a minimum of 3 to 4 per cent to a maximum of 20 to 30 per cent," Mr Holland said. "There are going to be losses." Mr Holland said, however, the two-year, three-phase introduction of the ban had ensured pubs and clubs had ample time to evolve to meet the changes.... | |
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