City diary
Learning the ropes in gangland
Nice when you discover that one of the industry's senior executives has an interesting past, starting at grass roots. Step forward Nigel Turpin, corporate affairs director at Punch. Turpin ran one of Shepherd Market's most famous restaurants, the 12,000sq ft Tiddy Dols, for 11 years, before moving to work at the Truman Brewery in Brick Lane. Back in the 1970s and 1980s Shepherd Market was a notorious vice area, awash with gangsters, petty criminals and hookers. Turpin, left, who met his wife while running the restaurant, was involved in the 1978 Save Shepherd Market campaign. Organisers took a "murder map" to the House of Commons showing the location of every murder, act of arson and defenestration of a prostitute that had taken place in the previous 12 months. Of Tiddy Dols, which used to pack out with tourists, he recalls: "It was a legend back in the '60s and '70s and way ahead of the field in the manner that we ran it - a great grounding for me during the '70s, before switching to area management at Trumans." Since then he has progressed through Grand Met, Scottish & Newcastle Retail, the Spirit Group and now Punch Taverns.
Looking for the bear necessities
Spirit's Maple Leaf Canadian pub, off Covent Garden, is sporting a new stuffed bear. The old bear was looking a little moth-eaten and devoid of body hair after years of punters stroking it. A replacement has been sourced - it's a little shorter than the previous one, but encased safely in a glass box. Spirit bosses report dense thickets of paperwork were needed, including certificates to confirm it hadn't been shot. The only problem is that the new bear doesn't have a name yet? Andrew and Giles have been ruled out for the obvious reasons. Sensible suggestions are welcome.
Reasons to be cheerful
For a number of years Pebble Hotels and former Mill House Inns boss Ted Kennedy has added a cheery message to his voice mail. Now Steve Minall, involved with Enterprise Inns on the Bar Wrapid concept, is rivalling Kennedy for sheer bloody cheeriness. His latest voice mail "thought" is: "Early to bed, early to rise, work like mad, advertise."
Noses to the grindstone at JDW
JD Wetherspoon's management has declined to speculate on how much of its sales decline is down to the smoking ban and how much to a consumer slowdown. "We don't dwell on the economy or the weather. If sales go down we must work harder to get them back," said chief executive John Hutson. "Generally, we're doing a good job."
Points make small prizes
Herald Inns, the managed operator headed by Julian Sargeson, has launched a Carvery Club at its highly-rated New River Carvery. Customers get one point for every pound spent. Spending £100 and amassing 100 loyalty points entitles customers to a free carvery. Doesn't sound like the most generous loyalty scheme in the world.
Barracuda's salad days
Managed company Barracuda is on the trail of its missing salad leaves. The company has asked staff to be mindful of inefficiencies - pubs are daily "losing" the equivalent of eight bags of salad leaves or three packs of sirloin steak. Head of catering operations Anne Sandiford identifies seven major areas to check: over-portioning, deliveries, voids, pilferage, shelf-life expiry, mistakes/cooking errors and reports. "Problems with food stocks are not always under your nose, but are often a series of issues that add up to the final figure," she tells staff.
Making sure the price is right
A while back, City Diary mentioned the appearance of three Mentor Inns pubs for sale through Colliers CRE. The pubs now have a guide price. Clayton and the Glasshouse, Barnstaple, was on the market through Christie+Co in mid-2006 for £1.3m, and later through Bettesworths in December 2006 for £1.15m. It now has a guide price of £795,000 to £850,000. A second pub, the White Hart, in North Tawton, Devon, was on the market through Bettesworths for £675,000 with a turnover of £3,000 a week. It now has a guide price of £575,000 to £650,000. The third pub, the Fox Inn, Ellisfield, is a much more recent acquisition, bought by Mentor off an asking price of £525,000. This one now has a guide price of £635,000 to £675,000. As City Diary has already said, interesting company, Mentor Inns.
Smiling in the face of criticism
City Diary enjoyed the company of affable CGA boss Jon Collins, left, at the recent Retailer's Retailer awards. CGA had been commissioned by the British Beer & Pub Association to work out how many pubs a week were closing - the figure is 26. All well and good - except one senior City figure, unaware of the commission, approached Collins to tell him how unreliable he thought the figures were. Collins retained his trademark good humour.
Fawcett's words trip off the tongue
Former Punch Taverns chief operating officer Adrian Fawcett is now chief executive of General Healthcare Group. He bought nine hospitals across England from rival private provider Nuffield a few weeks ago. Adrian was renowned for his own take on the English language. Certainly, the quote attributed to him shows a real gift for alliteration: "I am confident that we can continue to provide even better personalised, pro-active and preventative care for patients in these areas."
Gushing review of Taybarns
Social network website Myspace has carried one sparkling review of Whitbread's new eat-all-you-like venue in Swansea, Taybarns. The review stated: "Went to this lush buffet place called Taybarns. Ate about six plates of food. Including Chinese in a Yorkshire pudding, then was sick like eight times outside it." Suppose it's the downside of eat-all-you-like.
Plate-loving licensee defies Ramsay
Punch tenant Brian Rey had a memorable visit from Gordon Ramsay for one of his entertaining Kitchen Nightmares. Rey, who is well-known for campaigning for real gravy in the wake of Ramsay's visit, had, you may remember, a penchant for expensive plates, albeit ones bought on eBay. In clear defiance he's now broadened his menu to include steak items served on "red-hot sizzling plates". "Yes Gordon, yet another plate," adds Rey, pictured left with Ramsey and his wife, Elaine.
Making a meal of restaurant design
Innsight Design was the company given the brief to design the first Taybarns for Whitbread. Its website states: "Innsight Design has created separate intimate areas with free-flowing curved partitioning and fixed seating breaking up the space." For those who struggle to follow design talk, there's a handy nine images on the website to give you an idea of how Taybarns actually looks - a food court surrounded by lots of comfy seating.
Whitbread doubles diners' delight
Reports indicate Whitbread is delighted with the first 300-cover Taybarns. The company has begun recruiting for a second site in Coventry. Less-than-reliable Wikipedia reports: "There is currently just one in Swansea, which has been well received with amazing sales uplifts. Expect this brand to grow very quickly."
Novelli's chapeau en chocolat
Jean Christophe Novelli is lining up his second pub, a Greene King site in Bedfordshire. Meanwhile, his old buddy Keith Floyd has been booked for a wine-tasting at his first pub, Enterprise's White Horse. Those attending are warned by Novelli: "This event will be politically incorrect. You will learn nothing, but if you don't leave feeling better than you did when you arrived I will eat my hat - but it will be a chocolate one!" Sounds great, doesn't it?
