'Supermarkets ignore budget duty rises'
Supermarkets were last week shrugging off Chancellor of The Exchequer Alistair Darling's duty rises and were continuing to slash the prices of some alcoholic drinks, including alco-pops and some cider products. - Sunday Times
Marshall Wace, one of the City's biggest hedge funds, is to continue pressing for a combination of the managed pubs businesses of Punch Taverns and Mitchells & Butlers despite last week's withdrawal of a proposal to merge the two. Marshall Wace is understood to have trimmed its six per cent shareholding in Punch and increased its stake in M&B on Friday, according to people familiar with the hedge fund. The changes to its shareholdings are likely to be revealed in Stock Exchange announcements by both pub companies tomorrow. - Sunday Telegraph
JD Wetherspoon is unlikely to repeat its eco-pub format, and instead will look to reduce its overall energy consumption across its estate instead. With its wind turbine and solar panels, the pubco's eco-friendly Kettleby Cross pub in Leicestershire was initially hailed as a blueprint for the watering hole of the future. But Wetherspoon says punters place more value on cheap prices and dependable heating than environmental sustainability and it will look to cut general energy use instead. The decision to abandon the eco-pub model was welcomed by the Association of Environment Conscious Builders. Spokeswoman Liz Reason said: "This was a classic case of spending lots of money on what can best be described as eco-bling, little of it proven to reduce CO2 emissions in a meaningful way." - The Scotsman
Scottish pubs have now emerged as an unlikely home of the card game. A pub poker league, which allows experts and beginners alike to compete, has taken the nation's bars by storm. In just two years, the league has become a social phenomenon, going from nothing to 80 venues taking part, with new ones opening every month. Most players gamble £5 for a night's fun and are unlikely to win more than £70. - The Scotsman
A town plagued by under-age drinking yesterday became the first in Scotland to ban the sale of alcohol to under-21s. Armadale in West Lothian started a six-week scheme in a bid to cut down on anti-social behaviour. Beginning last night (Saturday), all 11 off licences agreed to withdraw the sale of booze to under-21s between 5pm and 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Councillor Isabel Hutton said: "This initiative will not prevent all youths getting hold of alcohol, but I am sure it will help in reducing alcohol related, anti-social behaviour, and that will be beneficial to the Armadale community." - Glasgow Daily Record
