'Licensee barred from selling beer by landlord'

A pub landlord has been barred from serving beer by a brewery (sic). Graham Smith, 51, and wife Carole, 50, owe Punch Taverns £4,800 in rent. And the brewery is refusing to deliver to the Old George Inn in Dorchester, Dorset, until the debt is paid. Graham said: "It's Catch 22. We need to make money but if they won't give us beer we can't attract drinkers. We can sell wine and spirits but what good is that?" Punch Taverns said: "Our priority is to ensure the pub is open for trade as soon as possible." - Sunday People​

Mitchells & Butlers is to consider asset swaps and a range of property disposals as part of the strategic review initiated in the wake of the company's £275m hedging calamity. M&B, which last week received a proposal from rival Punch Taverns to merge in an £11bn deal, is understood to have told advisers at Citi and Greenhill that there should be "no sacred cows" as they seek solutions which produce "deliverable best value" for investors. Among the options M&B will consider are swapping assets, which could include attempting to strike a deal with Whitbread to exchange M&B's hotels for some of Whitbread's pubs. No discussions with Whitbread are thought to have been held about the idea. - Sunday Telegraph​

Punch shareholders have warned the pub company's board that they will vote against the proposed merger with rival Mitchells & Butlers unless the deal changes dramatically. Investors representing nearly 10 per cent of Punch are furious that the proposed all-share takeover proposal for M&B will hugely dilute their stakes. Punch's share price has nosedived over the past six months and it is trading at a huge discount to the sector. Others see the deal as an opportunity too good to miss, even in its current form. - Mail On Sunday​

With more and more people employed in service and creative industries, the traditional pub's customers - manual workers who toil for modest wages in factories and shipyards - have fallen away to be replaced by a more affluent and demanding clientele. Ted Tuppen, Enterprise Inns' chief executive, says: 'The definition of a pub is broad these days: some of our establishments are really pub-restaurants. In Chiswick, for example, the Devonshire House is a Gordon Ramsay restaurant, offering top-notch food. Pubs have changed a lot over the years; and for the better, with more attention paid to service and quality.' - Observer​

One in five Irish drinkers wants to cut back on their consumption of alcohol and nearly 10 per cent are so worried they want to banish drink from their lives for good, a Millward Brown IMS National Opinion Poll has found. 48 per cent believe that the enforcement of the drink driving laws has made the pub a less attractive option. The figure is significantly higher at 62 per cent among the farming community. The smoking ban has widespread approval with just 27 per cent saying that the ban has made pubs less enjoyable. Nearly one in three of us are still regular smokers, the poll found. - Irish Independent​

Diageo chief executive Paul Walsh is expected to be quizzed this week on speculation that he wants to do a merger with a beer company. Analysts say the world's biggest spirits company, which also has Guinness in its portfolio, is keen to talk to companies such as SABMiller and Anheuser Busch to create a global beer behemoth. - Scotland On Sunday​

And finally…

Amy Winehouse's local pub, the Hawley Arms, based in London's Camden area, has suffered severe fire damage. A fire began sweeping through Camden on Saturday evening, causing extensive damage to the famous Camden Market and surrounding properties. So far no-one is thought to have been injured by the fire. Camden is a mecca for musicians, with venues such as Barfly, the Electric Ballroom and the Underworld being located near the site of the fire. - NME​