'Beer: how much would you pay?'

The average price of a pint has risen above £3 for the first time. After the VAT increase, Britain's largest breweries have warned it's likely there will be a further 5-10p added to the cost of a pint in February. Dave Bailey, a former pub landlord who founded the Hardknott Brewery in Cumbria, breaks down how much it costs him to make each pint: Malt: 3p, Hops: 2p, Cleaning chemicals/finings: less than 1p, Power: less than 1p, Duty: 20p, Transport: 12p, Plant / buildings: 12p, Advertising: 6p, Repairs and renewals: 7p, Labour: 20p, Administration: 7p. Total: 90p. These costs mean Dave charges pubs £65 plus VAT per firkin (72 pints). When he was a pub landlord Dave would calculate the retail cost of a pint by accounting for what he paid for the firkin plus tax and overheads. Ultimately, most pubs see very little of the price of each pint of beer sold and also need to sell food, spirits, soft drinks and wine to make a profit - Guardian - Word of Mouth Blog​

No let-up for embattled leisure operators. Operators in the UK leisure sector cannot afford to sit back and relax this year - and they know it. From pub and restaurant executives to bankers and private equity operators, industry insiders believe 2011 will widen the gap between companies with strong management teams and those trying to sell "mediocrity and overpriced offerings", says Ian Neill, chairman of Wagamama. Mr Neill was one of a dozen people in the sector interviewed for research, which is due to be published on Friday, by corporate advisory group Zolfo Cooper - Financial Times​

Wetherspoon weathers snow storm. JD?Wetherspoon reassured investors when it said that trading over the snow-affected Christmas period did not reverse like-for-like sales growth, because of similar weather conditions last January. The almost 800-strong chain is the first of the UK listed pub companies to update the market for the festive period. Its figures suggest that what had been perceived as worse weather than the previous winter may not have dissuaded pubgoers as much as feared. It said: "Heavy snow invariably has an adverse effect on sales, but effects on the like-for-like numbers were minimal". It was "confident of a reasonable outcome for the year as a whole" - Financial Times​

'Support our pubs' urge campaigners in Cornwall. A new campaign group in Cornwall has been set up to support struggling pubs and encourage more people to use them. Darren Norbury, from Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) said 2011 was going to be a "very tough year for pubs" because of the economy, smoking ban and cheap alcohol being sold in supermarkets. The group was concerned about the recent spate of pub closures. Mr Norbury said the campaign was all about people backing their local pub - an important local service. Ministers have unveiled plans to set a minimum price for alcohol in England and Wales but Mr Norbury said the prices were "far too low" - BBC​

The coffee that's bigger than the human stomach. Starbucks, the American coffee giant which translated Milan's espresso bars into an identikit global chain serving half pints of coffee-flavoured frothy milk, has launched another innovation: a super-sized cup that contains more liquid than an average human stomach. Even a nation as obese as the United States expressed surprise at yesterday's introduction of the Trenta receptacle ("Thirty" in Italian), which carries 31 fluid ounces (916ml) in one cup - equivalent to more than an ordinary bottle of wine. Launched initially in 14 US states, the transparent cup - 63 per cent larger than the chain's previous largest size, the Venti (561ml) - will carry only iced coffee, iced tea and iced-tea lemonade. Starbucks said it was launching the cup in response to demand - Independent​

The SNP's £30 million "Tesco tax" will be rejected in a report by MSPs today, putting further pressure on finance secretary John Swinney's efforts to pass the Scottish budget for next year. Holyrood's cross-party finance committee will call on Mr Swinney to "reconsider" his controversial policy, which aims to force big firms, including supermarkets and department stores, to pay tens of thousands of pounds extra a year in rates. The rejection leaves ministers facing defeat in the full parliament on the tax when the budget for 2011-12 is considered over the coming weeks - Scotsman​