City Diary: 23 April

First Taybarns of the year in sight

Whitbread was rubbing its hands in glee last year when its all-you-can-eat concept Taybarns started taking £70,000 per week per site — the brand was quickly expanded to seven sites. Now City Diary thinks its found the first Taybarns opening of 2009. A planning application has been submitted to convert the Brewers Fayre in Blackpool's Yeadon Way to a Taybarns. The site was briefly part of the ill-fated kiddie-fest brand Brewster's until Whitbread pulled the plug on the ball pool and phased it out in 2005.

Enterprise BDM scheme a big hit​

No shortage of people wanting to be business development managers (BDMs). Enterprise Inns has had an amazing 500 applications for six vacancies on its apprenticeship scheme for BDMs. Enterprise, which calls this vacancy "associate regional managers", has already seen three batches of trainees move through the ranks. They undertake a six to 12 months apprenticeship on between £25,000 and £30,000 before becoming fully-fledged BDMs — Enterprise calls them regional managers — on £40,000-plus. Head of recruitment and training Peter Grieve says: "It's great to grow your own."

Brunning & Price forges ahead​

When Restaurant Group bought the quirky gastropub chain Brunning & Price two years ago, there were raised eyebrows. Would the Brunning & Price ethos be lost in its more corporate context? Sources report Brunning & Price has been storming ahead with like-for-likes up by a mighty 7%. Moreover, Restaurant Group has decided to inject Brunning & Price expertise into its other pub-restaurant brand, Blubeckers. City Diary believes the White Hart at Sevenoaks will be the first Blubeckers under the wing of Brunning & Price, with a refurbishment due shortly.

New technology to save the drays​

Amazing thing, technology. City Diary hears about a new vehicle tracking system that could save brewery drays £3m of fines a year in London. New Fleetm8 technology will allow a message to be sent to Westminster Council ahead of a driver's delivery to a particular pub, to request short-term exemption from parking restrictions outside the premises. This will automatically be granted through a server held at the council, which will create a temporary, "virtual" loading bay outside the pub and will also alert parking attendants in the area, via their handheld computers, not to issue tickets to the delivery vehicle. To quicken the delivery time, the intelligent system will also send a Bluetooth message to the pub alerting staff to open the cellar doors ahead of the vehicle's arrival. Whatever next?

Thumbs down for Mitchell's tills ​

Bit of a shock for staff at York Brewery, taken over last year by Mitchell's of Lancaster. Mitchell's has installed a device that means staff provide a thumb-print before they can activate the till at their bar. The move is so they can keep track of staff's work and combat fraud, but some staff at the pubs are said to be unhappy. Jonathan Barker, managing director of Mitchell's, said: "The reasons for clocking in are: so we know we are paying people for the time they are working; that it allows us to incentivise staff, to reward those taking most money; and that it does prevent fraud. An identity card can be used by someone else, but you cannot nick someone's finger."

Martin gives 'em both barrels​

Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin is like a dog with a bone. In a well-written opinion piece carried by The Daily Mail he railed against Government taxation burdens. He also returned to a familiar target — hit-and-run financiers: "The economic lunacy spilled over into the pub world as the laws of common sense were suspended and the banks loaned billions to a variety of likely lads armed with large egos, but with little or no talent or inclination for the mundane and hard work necessary to run a pub company. Guy Hands, Hugh Osmond and Robert Tchenguiz, among others, saddled Britain's pubs with unprecedented amounts of debt, just as Gordon was saddling the pubs with unprecedented tax and regulations, creating a toxic mixture that has resulted in unsustainable rents and beer prices." You wouldn't want him as an enemy.

In for a penny, in for a few million​

Latest reports show the degree to which pub investor Robert Tchenguiz and failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing were interdependent. Tchenguiz was the bank's largest customer, a major investment partner, and owned shares in the bank. The Observer reports: "Last summer, Kaupthing loans to the Tchenguiz empire amounted to 230bn krona (£1.47bn) — equivalent to 46% of bank deposits." As you might expect with a high-risk investment, Kaupthing's administrators are still down to the tune of £644m, despite the sale of major investments like the Mitchells & Butlers stake.

Undeniable Power in a bottle​

Somewhat belatedly, City Diary would like to award the prize for best April Fool's Day joke to White & Mackay. The whisky producer claimed that darts hero Phil "The Power" Taylor was battling head to head against David Beckham with his own fragrance. Called W&M Undeniable Power, the aftershaves were supposedly whisky-infused. There was even a poster showing how irresistible Miss British Isles Nicola Moriarty finds the new fragrance.

Pub chef warms up Hell's Kitchen​

A pub chef is appearing in ITV's Hell's Kitchen with the scary Marco Pierre White. Tim Payne, head chef of Columbo Group pub Paradise by Way of Kensal Green in London, is helping mentor the eight celebrities, who include Dynasty's Linda Evans, Anthea Turner and Ms Dynamite.

Payne was previously executive chef for Marco Pierre White and also appeared in the last series of Hell's Kitchen with the fiery chef. He was a finalist in this year's PubChef Food Excellence Awards.