What the Sunday papers said
The Sunday Times
IN a profile piece Steve Thomas of Luminar is labelled the Sir David Attenborough of the late-night entertainment market.
The boss of the 300-strong club business that has 1m customers each week, started with £24,000 that was used to set-up a club in King's Lynn in 1988.
He says the critical ingredient for a great club is, quote, "women": "If you don't have the right combination of females and males, it simply doesn't work."
TONY Blair has commissioned confidential research on the possibility of winning a euro referendum campaign amid fears that his chances of victory are doomed.
ECONOMICS: The average house price in Britain rose by 2.5 per cent last month to £110,890, Nationwide building society said. The increase, pushed the average house price up 22.7 per cent compared with a year earlier, the biggest rise since 1989.
The Mail on Sunday
THE drink and confectionary groups, CADBURY Schweppes and Nestle, have held talks on a joint bid for Hershey, the sweets giant up for sale in a £8bn auction.
WHILE other restaurateurs and celebrity chiefs are losing large sums of money, TV chef Rick Stein's operation in the Cornish town of Padstow is making piles of cash.
With his book sales, video and merchandising, he is becoming richer by the minute. Profits at Stein's Seafood Restaurants company topped £1m last year. Stein is thought to be worth £20m.
AFTER two years away, Chez Gerard's veteran boss has stepped in to take the restaurant group back to its roots - great service and the "best steak-frites this side of Paris".
The Sunday Express
RAYMOND Blanc appears in the "Business Masterclass" feature. The celebrated chef arrived in Britain with no money, no contacts, and no formal cookery training.
Three decades on the Frenchman owns England's premier country house hotel and restaurant, a chain of brasseries and published numerous cookery books.
The Independent on Sunday
A NEW investment fund has been set up to buy into companies that make their money from alcohol, cigarettes, gambling and manufacturing military goods. The new US venture is called the Vice Fund.
RESULTS out this week: Tuesday will see nightclub groups Springwood and Ultimate Leisure. On Thursday drinks giant Diageo, high street retailer Regent Inns, and restaurant group ASK Central will report results to the market. They are followed by discount pub operator JD Wetherspoon on Friday.
The Business
LONDON hotel groups are braced for a slowdown in business as the effects of last year's terrorist attacks take their toll on the industry for the second time.
Several hotel chains, including the Savoy and Meridien, have conceded that London bookings are downon normal levels, as tourists and business clients postpone trips due to fears of a repeat incident on or around the anniversary of 11 September.
The Weekend FT
HILTON Group has completed a sale and leaseback deal worth £335.7m with 10 of its UK hotels, in a move aimed at reducing debt.
The Sunday Telegraph
THE world's biggest drinks group, Diageo, planning to return £1bn to its shareholders. The group will prepare the way for a £1bn share buy-back programme when it presents its annual results this week.
PRET A Manger, the food chain with more than 100 stores, has launched a campaign against a European-wide ban on its stocks of crayfish.
The Observer
HIGH street banks are still offering inferior accounts and poor levels of service compared with smaller rivals, according to the latest survey of customers by the Consumers' Association.
