What the Sunday papers said
Wolverhampton & Dudley is expected to be one of the bidders for Laurel Pub Company's community pubs, and has also been linked with a move on pubs group Eldridge Pope. Though competition to acquire pubs is tough, the company has the financial headroom and cash flow to pull off more deals - The Mail on Sunday Half the wine on sale at Tesco will come in bottles with screw-tops by the end of next year. The supermarket giant believes the metal caps may take over from corks as the most popular way of sealing a bottle. Off-licence chain Oddbins has announced that 40 per cent of its wine bottles will have screw tops next year - The Mail on Sunday.
A family feud that has been brewing for decades is threatening Molson, Canada's biggest beer maker, and making it vulnerable to a hostile takover. Two branches of the Molson family, descendents of founder John Molson, are in dispute over the chairmanship of the business - The Business
Two groups of Irish investors have joined the race to buy the prestigious Wentworth golf course in Surrey, which is valued at up to £100m.One of the groups is headed by Derek Quinlan, the Irish businessman who led a consortium that recently took control of the Savoy group of hotels in a deal worth £750m - The Sunday Times Consumers are increasingly choosing coffee bars over pubs, preferring the largely no-smoking environment and innovative products such as speciality coffees. A new report shows that this year we are set to spend more than £1 billion in the likes of Costa Coffee and Starbucks, a rise of 15 per cent on 2003 - The Observer
English football fans in Portugal for Euro 2004 broke national records for boozing, with the team's early exit a blow for Portugese bar owners. The country's largest beer distributor reports sales between June 12 and 22 up 33 per cent on last year - The Sunday Express
Heavy social drinking can be just as harmful as full-blown alcoholism, claims new research. American scientists say people who down more than 100 drinks a month - just over three a day - are at risk of memory loss and reduced intelligence and mental agility - The Sunday Express
