City Diary — 5 August

Pole-dancing merger fantasy

The recent erroneous press reports of a proposed £100m merger between For Your Eyes Only (FYEO), Peter Stringfellow's two famous venues and the six-strong London chain of Secrets clubs, was the work of a particularly dim-witted journo. Or so says Secrets founder Stephen Less.

Our pole-dancing mucker says the story emanated from a discussion with said hack when Less asserted that any pub company with deep pockets should snap up the three firms, plus other existing lap-dancing businesses, the vast majority of which are single-site operations. The attraction? Oodles of cash.

The now defunct SFI Group was the only pub operator to go into flesh clubs when it inherited the first FYEO as part of its purchase of Richardson Inns. At the time the firm planned to sell the club, deeming it unsuitable for ownership by a plc. But then it saw how much money it made and commissioned a roll out, which started but never quite reached its promise.

Greene King: buy our shares​

Ping! An email from Greene King's City spinners arrives. It says: "Please find attached a [research] note from [analysts at] Goldmans on the pub sector reiterating a conviction sell on Marston's and a buy on Greene King." There was us thinking the rivalry was a figment of our imagination.

Barracuda Bar set for retirement​

There are signs that Barracuda Bar, the bar-club offer from the self-named managed pub group, is being gently marshalled into retirement. Given the current trading environment, the company is keen to expand its all-day offers and reduce its exposure to high-energy venues that rely on taking most of their money in narrow trading segments. The firm has been quietly converting or selling the bars — the Birmingham site is to become a Chinese restaurant — and we understand that while most will remain with the group, they will be evolved in the next 18 months or so.

Say pie pie to Mad O'Rourke's​

Separately, another perhaps less auspicious brand, Mad O'Rourke's, has met its maker: two of its three West Midlands pubs have gone back to landlord Marston's and one — Mad O'Rourke's Pie Factory — continues to trade, but under the stewardship of an administrator.

Business cards fall out of favour​

City Diary has learnt that the very existence of the most under-rated networking tool — the humble business card — is under threat. In these dark days of "cost cutting", global brewer AB InBev has axed the business card for all but a select few employees. Staff are being asked to accept business cards and then email their details back to those they meet. City Diary knows that we are in the digital age, but there's nothing quite as effective as a meet and greet, and a divvy up of cards, is there? What is next in line for the chop — the biscuits at meetings? Free samples for journos?

Revealing the stars of the bars​

They say retail is detail, so how's this from Inventive Leisure: the current obsession of co-founder and chief executive Roy Ellis is getting under the skin of sales performance (and performers) in key trading periods. The Revolution bar operator is tracking sales per bartender by 20-minute slots on Friday and Saturday nights. It is shining a light on the hardest grafters and creating a nice bit of competition — everyone wants to see who's taking the most.

Eighth wonder of the world​

Psssst. City Diary hears there's this amazing pubs conference happening this autumn, on 16 September. This is a must-attend gig apparently. It's going to be all big-brained boffins and whizzy bang highbrow revelations.

Find out more at www.ukpubretailsummit.co.uk​.

Starbucks row brewing with HMRC​

It seems regional brewers are not the only ones that cop the occasional bit of flack for "transfer pricing" — the amount pubs pay for beer from their own brewery. They always stood accused of charging too much, inflating the profitability of the beer arm. The issue has also visited Starbucks in the UK. It seems its transfer pricing has attracted the interest of HM Revenue & Customs.

The insinuation is that the price the UK subsidiary is paying its parent company in the US for coffee beans may be a little on the high side — thus helping to keep profits low and the Government's tax take from Starbucks minimal. The tiff merits mention in Starbucks' latest accounts. The world's biggest purveyor of coffee says discussions are ongoing and it is confident of a successful outcome.

Merchant's missing £200,000​

Legal letters are said to be flying between the wrangling parties connected to the collapse of Merchant Inns, after an investigation by Baker Tilly. The notes largely centre on the alleged misappropriation of Merchant funds totalling £200,000. RBS, which now effectively controls the six-strong business, is thought to be close to appointing an established pub operator to run the business.