Brakspear buy

Brakspear has bought its first pub in Wiltshire ­ the Shears Inn at Collingbourne Ducis. The buy takes Brakspear's total estate to more than 100, with four added in the past five months alone. The Henley-based company, which abandoned brewing last year to focus on growing its pub estate, aims to add an extra 40 houses in the next five years and expand its geographical borders. Fuller's education West London brewers Fuller's has fine tuned its cellar training course to make it more of a "grain to glass" education ­ looking at the whole life of a pint from raw materials to service at the bar. The course is available to Fuller's free trade and national account customers, plus the brewer's own managers and tenants. Read all about it Two Berkshire hosts came to the rescue when their local newsagents closed down ­ by letting locals pick their papers up from the pub. Michael and Jenny Connolly of the Swan in East Ilsley keep a box in their pub car park for residents to pick up their daily read on the way to work. Forty villagers now use the service, said Michael. Carling beer record Carling has become the first brand to sell five million barrels, or 1.44bn pints, in one year. The five millionth barrel of Carling to be brewed in a 12 month period rolled out of Coors' brewery in Burton-on-Trent last Monday. Coors said its sponsorship of football and music will push sales even further. New pub for Arkell's Swindon-based Arkell's Brewery has bought the Rising Sun in Woolhampton, near Reading, just weeks after buying the White Hart in Whitchurch. MD James Arkell said: "[The Rising Sun] fits in well with the Arkell's brewery footprint, which runs through Wiltshire and Berkshire down the M4 corridor as far as Windsor." VK Vodka bonanza An 85% rise in sales of VK Vodka in the on-trade helped generate £69m for owner GBL International ­ despite predictions of a slowing RTD market. GBL's managing director Steve Perez said recent launches of brands Cork's, Cavela and VK Coast are selling better than expected and will boost this year's performance. Punch prize winner Football fanatic Mario Mina spent three days with Manchester United after winning a competition run by Punch Pub Company. Mina, 44, met star players including Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs as part of his prize, won for naming a dream team from veteran players featured in Punch's Football Classics 2003 event ­ a screening of classic matches in about 1,000 Punch pubs.