What the Sunday papers said…

Barracuda Group, owner of the Varsity and Smith & Jones bar chains, may be the latest leisure industry firm to change hands after its owner appointed the Citigroup investment bank to evaluate options for the company - Sunday Times​

Barracuda has appointed investment bank Citigroup to advise on a potential sale or float that would value the company at up to £300m - Mail on Sunday​

Urbium is set to double the number of its nightclubs in the City of London this year - Financial Times​

Pubs group JD Wetherspoon is expected to report a sharp fall in half-year profits on Friday, with analysts predicting a drop of between 14 and 18 per cent due to squeezed margins and higher energy prices - Mail on Sunday​

The Government's plan to ban smoking in nearly all pubs were in disarray last night after a cabinet minister disclosed that the proposals are to be watered down significantly - Sunday Telegraph​

Sir John Krebs, the chairman of the Food Standards Agency and man at the centre of the one of Britain's biggest food safety scares, says the public is near to losing all its hard won trust in the food industry - Observer​

Britain's food safety chiefs issued a stark warning to the country's multi-billion-pound food industry to put its house in order or face plunging public trust and prosecutions - Observer​

Less than a fortnight after the worst food scare since BSE, it looks like Premier Foods won't be punished by the Food Standards Agency, but the Financial Services Authority have written demanding an account of events - Observer​

The red tape burden on British business adds up to £40bn since labour came to power, the British Chambers of Commerce will say this week - Sunday Times Business​

The Heineken income statement for 2004 showed the Dutch brewer poured 14 per cent more beer down consumers' throats, but earnings fell by nearly a third - Business​

Dutch brewer Grolsch aims to enliven flat domestic beer sales with an advertising campaign, packaging rethink and new products, predicted to reach the UK market towards the end of this year - Financial Times​

Drinks giant Diageo is being forced to come up with a new recipe for its best-selling Smirnoff Ice after an 18-month review into alcopops by the US authorities - Independent on Sunday​

Coca-Cola is preparing to target consumers with a new range of health drinks containing phytosterol, an obscure plant extract which is earning a strong following in the scientific community thanks to its cholesterol-reducing properties - Observer​