MA Leaders Club

Bar Sport's franchise plan

15-May-2008 By The PMA Team

Bar Sport, the sports bar operator founded by Scott Murray, is to offer a franchise. The company believes it can expand to about 100 sites in the...

Sharpened focus helps Luminar Group

15-May-2008 By Hamish Champ

Nightclub operator Luminar Group said its strategy of moving towards an estate of high quality, predominantly branded outlets will allow it to...

Luminar confident over year ahead

15-May-2008 By Ewan Turney

Nightclub operator Luminar Leisure has recorded a 1.9% increase in sales from its 87 continuing operations for the year to 28 February. The operator...

Suburban Bar Co creates new group to run wet-led pubs

12-May-2008 By Hamish Champ

Suburban Style Bar has created a subsidiary company to manage the 10 freehold wet-led pubs it bought earlier this year. Beacon Pub Company will run...

Innventive Pubs & Restaurants buys Massive Pub Co sites

23-Apr-2008 By Hamish Champ

Administrators to Massive Pub Company have exchanged contracts to sell 33 sites to Birmingham-based Innventive Pubs & Restaurants (IPR).David...

Luminar sells 26 sites to new company

17-Apr-2008

Luminar has agreed the transfer of 26 units to a new operator, Cavendish Bars.The disposal, which will see Luminar make a net loss on disposal of...

Luminar sells 26 clubs for 19p each

17-Apr-2008 By Ewan Turney

Luminar Leisure has sold 26 nightclubs for 19p each to Cavendish Bars. Cavendish has agreed to buy the leaseholds via the sale of five disposal...

Bank/Zinc acquisition boosts Individual Restaurant Group

31-Mar-2008 By Hamish Champ

Steve Walker, chief executive of the Individual Restaurant Company (IRC), acknowledged the eating out market was getting more "challenging" but said...

Luminar cuts capex by £22m

20-Mar-2008 By Hamish Champ

Nightclub operator Luminar Group is cutting its capital investment programme by £22m over the next two years as it seeks to focus activities on what...

Novus Leisure snaps up Soho Clubs & Bars

18-Mar-2008 By Hamish Champ

Novus Leisure, the private equity-backed Tiger Tiger operator, has completed a deal to buy most of Soho Clubs & Bars (SC&B) from its...

ALMR launches annual operations managers' awards

11-Mar-2008

The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) is inviting entries to its annual Operations Managers Awards.This year's event is being...

Suburban Style Bar Company goes down wet-led route for £4.5m

11-Mar-2008 By Hamish Champ

West Yorkshire-based Suburban Style Bar Company has shelled out £4.5m on 10 wet-led pubs, effectively trebling the size of its North of England...

Plastics rule at Luminar bars

06-Mar-2008

Britain's biggest nightclub operator Luminar says 87% of its venues now serve all drinks in polycarbonate containers. The move to plastics has halved...

Luminar's bar estate is 87% glass-free

03-Mar-2008 By John Harrington

The nightclub operator says the move to polycarbonates has halved insurance premiums

Charity: MA100 seminar gets ready for lift-off

28-Feb-2008 By The PMA Team

MA deputy editor The PMA Team previews the MA100 club meeting

Charles Wells profits hit as costs take their toll

24-Jan-2008 By Hamish Champ

Reorganisation costs and rising raw material prices combined to dent Charles Wells' profitability in 2007.But despite a 17 per cent drop in pre-tax...

Luminar reports "satisfactory" festive trade

18-Jan-2008

Nightclub operator Luminar reports "satisfactory" trade over Christmas and New Year

Protz: Things are looking up in Wadworthshire

10-Jan-2008

Things are looking up at the Wadworth brewery, says Roger Protz

Wadworth gets behind anti-drink drive campaign

20-Dec-2007 By Hamish Champ

Devizes-based brewer Wadworth is supporting the government's anti-drink drive campaign over Christmas with a pair of fake hand pumps installed in its...

Batemans' volumes increase by 20%

13-Dec-2007 By The PMA Team

Lincolnshire brewer Batemans has reported an increase of almost 20% in beer volumes on a year-on-year basis. The company has enjoyed booming sales,...

JW Lees launches Grip Glass

08-Nov-2007

Brewer and retailer JW Lees has launched a unique pint glass. The Grip Glass has grooves to fit the hand, allowing a proper grip on the glass....

Scottish & Newcastle 'star chamber' to fend off Carlsberg approach

05-Nov-2007 By Hamish Champ

Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) has created a 'star chamber' of senior board members to see off Carlsberg/Heineken's £6.8bn approach.Officially...

Like-for-like sales up 1.8% at Luminar

01-Nov-2007 By Mark Wingett mark.wingett@william-reed.co.uk

Luminar, the quoted nightclub group, which operates the Liquid, Oceana, and Lava & Ignite chains, has reported a 1.8% increase in like-for-like...

Sales up at Luminar

30-Oct-2007 By Mark Wingett, M&C Report

Nightclub operator Luminar Leisure reports a 1.8% increase in like-for-like sales

Luminar unfazed by smoking ban

30-Oct-2007 By Hamish Champ

Dance venue operator Luminar has reported that the smoking ban has had a "marginal impact" on first half trading performance.Announcing its figures...

Orchid ramps up carvery roll-out

26-Oct-2007 By The PMA Team

Orchid Group is stepping up its plans to open new carveries after "phenomenal success"

Luminar aims for 16 Oceanas

18-Oct-2007 By The PMA Team

Nightclub company Luminar is looking to increase the number of Oceanas from 10 to 16 by early 2009

Luminar aims for 16 Oceanas by 2009

18-Oct-2007 By The PMA Team

Nightclub company Luminar is looking to increase the number of Oceana mega-clubs it runs from 10 to 16 by early 2009, according to KBC Peel Hunt...

Cognetas writes down Novus Leisure investment by £60m

04-Oct-2007 By Hamish Champ

The private equity group which owns Tiger Tiger operator Novus Leisure has revalued its investment in the company from the equivalent of nearly £80m...

Debating hot industry topics at the ALMR's Ops Academy

01-Oct-2007 By Hamish Champ

I was recently asked to co-chair a debate featuring high-flying members of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers' (ALMR) 'Ops Academy'. The...

Ultimate Leisure takes premium to heart

24-Sep-2007 By Hamish Champ

In changing its name to Premium Bars and Restaurants Ultimate Leisure new moniker will reflect "the positive strides the group has taken over the...

Giles Thorley backs calls to reduce drinking age

20-Sep-2007 By Hamish Champ

Punch Taverns chief executive Giles Thorley has added his weight to calls for the drinking age in the UK to be lowered to 16.The boss of the biggest...

Wellstead's successors announced at Christies

19-Sep-2007

Following Colin Wellstead's decision earlier this year to retire Neil Morgan has been appointed as Christie & Co's director & head of public...

TCG launches Oasis concept

04-Sep-2007 By Mark Wingett

Tattershall Castle Group (TCG), the managed pub operator owned by Alchemy Partners, the private equity firm, has launched a new concept called Oasis under the banner "classic pubs with a twist".

Luminar trebles its nightclubs' seating area

31-Aug-2007

Nightclub operator Luminar plans to treble the amount of seating space at its venues to around 20% of the total area. Luminar chief executive Steve...

Heartstone Inns banks £3m in new financing

17-Aug-2007 By Hamish Champ

Heartstone Inns, the Reading-based pubco founded earlier this year by industry veterans Stuart Hawthorn and James Birch, has raised £3m in a second...

TCG reports loss of £7.5m

26-Jul-2007 By The PMA Team

TCG Acquisitions, the managed company that runs the Henry's and Bar 38 chains among 160 former Spirit Group pubs and bars acquired in September 2005,...

Tattershall Castle reports £7.5 million loss

25-Jul-2007 By The PMA Team

TCG Acquisitions, the managed company that runs the Henry¹s and Bar 38 chains among 160 former Spirit Group pubs and bars acquired in September 2005, made a loss of £7.5m in its first full year.

Camerons Brewery sells free on-trade business

06-Jul-2007 By Hamish Champ

Tough market conditions have forced North East brewery Camerons to sell its free on-trade business to Coors for an undisclosed sum.The business...

26 Alex Salussolia

31-May-2007

managing director, Glendola Leisure (new entry)

The ALMR conference - a lesson in how to have fun in the licensed trade

27-Apr-2007 By Hamish Champ

I wandered over the Millennium Bridge from our offices on the South Bank this week to pay a visit to the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers'...

ALMR calls for common sense over rent rises

26-Apr-2007 By Hamish Champ

The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) has called on landlords to cut its members some slack when it comes to rent reviews. Addressing...

McMullen's hits out at Home Office response

12-Apr-2007

McMullen's HAS hit out at the Home Office, claiming its approach to pubs is both "counter-productive" and "misguided". Peter Furness-Smith, the...

Drink Pink as Ember Inns teams up with cancer charity

13-Mar-2007 By Lucy Britner

Ember Inns is urging customers to drink pink this month to help raise money for a breast cancer charity. Pub goers will raise a glass of rosé wine...

Wells & Young's snaps up Courage rights

17-Jan-2007

Wells & Young's buys rights for Courage from Scottish & Newcastle UK.

Whitbread sells TGI Friday's for £70.4m

17-Jan-2007 By Hamish Champ

Whitbread has sold its interest in the TGI Friday's restaurant chain to ABN AMRO Capital and US group Carlson Restaurants Worldwide for £70.4m.The...

Law lets pubs down says McMullens

11-Jan-2007 By John Harrington john.harrington@william-reed.co.u

McMullens boss Peter Furness-Smith has written to Home Secretary John Reid slamming British law enforcement for not doing enough to support pubs. The...