Pubco Greene King has once again joined forces with cancer charity Macmillan to take part in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning across its 1,800-wide estate.
Rather than the traditional literary festival or large book store, retired footballer Ian Wright launched his autobiography, A Life In Football in north London pub, the Tollington Arms.
Pubco Greene King has launched a free wine and spirits tool kit to help operators drive sales in the categories, which it claims can be challenging for licensees who feel they “lack the expertise” to put together a strong offer.
Greene King has warned licensees that consumer confidence may be affected by Brexit, after reporting strong financial results in a ‘transformational year’ for the pubco.
Spending on drinking out showed further signs of stability in this month’s Greene King Leisure Tracker, with consumers spending an average of £1 (2%) more than last year, and £2 (5%) more than April..
Prime Minister, David Cameron, visited the Greene King brewery this week as part of a tour of the region - following his campaign to remain in the EU ahead of next week's referendum on the issue.
Greene King is helping pubs that could benefit from a food offer by launching its first food supply service for tenants, after a review of the business showed many sites could make a bigger play of food.
The decision by managed pub chain giant JD Wetherspoon to axe the Sunday roast has sent shock waves through the trade. Nicholas Robinson finds out if the reverberations will hit other pubs too
Fewer than half of British adults (49%) are aware of the Government’s Budget in March, but those who are have high expectations for change, according to this month’s Greene King Leisure Spend Tracker.
Greene King pubs have cancelled children’s events planned for the half term break after being threatened with legal action from TV channel Nickelodeon.
Former Spirit pub operators have blasted Greene King after being ordered to de-list Sharp’s Doom Bar, Fuller’s London Pride and other leading brewery beers.
Greene King has reported like-for-like sales up 2.2% in its retail estate with the Spirit managed pubs seeing like-for-like growth of 1.1%, for the 40 weeks to 7 February.
Greene King has announced chairman Tim Bridge is to step down after 45 years with the company, to be replaced by former Diageo finance director Philip Yea.
Greene King might be off the beaten track in the sleepy Suffolk town of Bury St Edmunds, but that has not stopped it from making waves throughout the wider UK market.
There is still room for improvement in the training of business development managers (BDMs) by pubcos as less than two thirds are properly qualified, according to the annual compliance report by the Pub Governing Body (PGB).
Greene King expects to halve the number of brands and formats it operates across it estate through the integration of the Spirit Pub Company portfolio.
Household spending on eating out in London declined at a steeper rate than the rest of the country with household spending in October down by 11% in the capital compared to 4% nationally.
The shortlist for the three coveted awards for the specialist categories at the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs 2016 has been revealed, after some of the UK’s best food-serving pubs battled it out for a space.
Leading analyst Jamie Rollo, of Morgan Stanley, has said he believes Greene King will look to achieve synergies from the integration of Spirit Pub Company through simplification and improvement of brands.
Greene King has launched a pie festival at over 130 pubs across its UK estate, with one pie created by Tom Kerridge’s team at the Hand & Flowers available at selected sites.
