Gould moves

Punch training and recruitment directorStephen Gould is to join Leicestershire brewer Everards as its trade director. Gould, who introduced a number of training initiatives at Punch, joins the company in March. General opening Shepherd Neame has opened its eighth Mulberry Inn. The latest opening, the General's Arms, is in Little Baddow, near Chelmsford, Essex. The Kent-based brewer has invested £200,000 in the new opening. Hotel appeal Ultimate Leisure is to appeal after magistrates refused its application for a licence at the Gresham Hotel in Jesmond, Newcastle. Phillip Krame QC, representing the city council, successfully argued that Ultimate's sound-proofing would not protect neighbours from disturbance. Firm liquidates Marann Brooks, a company that offered advice to licensees on rates assessments, has gone into liquidation. Licensee Malcolm Goldsmith, of the Alexander Tavern, in Kingston, is owed £495 plus VAT after paying consultancy fees to the company prior to its liquidation. Becon of light The lease on the oldest inn in Wales, the Skirrid Mountain Inn in the Brecon Becons, has been sold for an undisclosed sum off an asking price of £85,000. The inn, which was built in 1110, was bought by Daryl Hardy and Maria Appleton, from Kendall in Cumbria. ScotCo ad An advertisement in the Morning Advertiser of 16 January this year, comparing Scottish Courage products with rival drinks, contained factual inaccuracies. AC Nielsen, whose data was misquoted, has written to the MA, pointing out the error (See letter, page 15). A spokesman for ScotCo said: "This was a genuine error, which we put right straight away.