03-Nov-2008 By Ewan Turney
Charles Wells is to ramp up its recruitment drive by holding a Pub Business Fair for potential new tenants.
Luminar banking on a busy Christmas
30-Oct-2008
Late night operator Luminar is hoping that its core 18 to 24 year-old market will put their worries aside this Christmas and enjoy the party season....
25-Sep-2008 By Ewan Turney
MA Top-100 member Peach Pub Company has won the National Customer Service Team in Retail award. Peach, which runs a chain of food-led pubs, saw off...
25-Sep-2008 By Ewan Turney
Cheap drinks deals at Luminar Leisure venues helped to "slightly" increase footfall in August but overall trading continues to be difficult, the late...
City Pub Life to go national
28-Aug-2008 By Matt Eley Matt
A successful website that has helped pubs in the South East market themselves is going national. For the last seven years City Pub Life has helped...
Welcome to Wadworthshire
20-Aug-2008
ONLY FOUR years to go to the London Olympics and they're in training for their share of gold amid the verdant dells and thatched roofs of...
Private equity firm buys Jamies wine bar sites
13-Aug-2008
Private Equity financier NBGI has backed former Chorion chairman Nick Tamblyn in a buyout of selected Jamies wine bar and Henry J Bean assets from...
12-Aug-2008 By Ewan Turney
Charles Wells has acquired the Black Horse in Swaffham Bulbeck, Cambridgeshire from a private seller. The destination food outlet, which will now...
New sites boost Individual Restaurant Group
04-Aug-2008 By Hamish Champ
New site openings have helped Individual Restaurant Group (IRG) achieve a 21 per cent hike in sales in the 26 weeks to June 29, 2008.In a pre-close...
'Health campaigners condemn Luminar's 80p-a-drink plan'
03-Aug-2008
A nightclub chain which has slashed the price of its drinks to 80p has been condemned as "irresponsible" by health campaigners. Pub and club giant...
Ember Inns runs 10km for charity
01-Aug-2008
Staff from Ember Inns South joined forces to compete in the recent Bupa Great Capital Run.The 120 members of the team ran 10km run through Hyde Park...
31-Jul-2008 By The PMA Team
TCG Acquisitions, the managed company owned by Alchemy Partners, is preparing to split itself into as many as five different legal entities. The...
28-Jul-2008 By The PMA Team
The award-winning Bar Sport chain, which runs four sites, has gone into administration with Butcher Woods after over-investment. Bar Sport, which...
24-Jul-2008 By The PMA Team
Luminar boss Stephen Thomas has defended offering all drinks on selected nights for 80p or 90p. The company is trialling a number of discount...
Luminar denies making informal bid for Regent Inns
21-Jul-2008 By Hamish Champ
Luminar, the nightclub operator, has denied press speculation it has tabled an informal offer for troubled Regent Inns, which runs the Walkabout...
16-Jul-2008 By Ewan Turney
Late-night operator Luminar Leisure has blamed the weather, England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 and the general economic climate for a "sharp...
09-Jul-2008 By Ewan Turney
LGV Capital has successfully completed its acquisition of 65 Channel Island pubs and two drinks distribution firms from Sandpiper CI after the deal...
Moleface lines up next site
26-Jun-2008
Moleface Pub Company, the Midlands-based gastro-pub operator, has snapped up its second pub, the Lord Nelson, an Enterprise leasehold in Burton...
Orchid Group's backer slams whispering campaign
20-Jun-2008 By Hamish Champ
The backer of the Orchid pub group has slammed a 'whispering campaign' which has suggested the business is in financial trouble.Having acquired the...
McManus Pub Co sails off with Estuary Pub Company
06-Jun-2008
McManus Pub Company, the Northampton-based operator has acquired full control of the six-site Estuary Pub Company after buying the outstanding 50 per...
05-Jun-2008 By Graham Ridout
Punch operations director Kevin Georgel and head of recruitment Adam Smith tell Graham Ridout about their attitude to multiple managed operators A...
30-May-2008 By Mark Stretton, M&C Report
Cavendish Bars, the company formed out of various Luminar nightclub assets, has put 14 sites up for sale. Most of the clubs and bars included in the...
MA100 line-up revealed
29-May-2008 By MA Reporter ma.editorial@william-reed.co.uk
Next event will be on 23 and 24 June The list of speakers for the next seminar for members of MA100, the club for multiple independent retailers, has...
Job changes at JW Lees
29-May-2008
JW Lees has unveiled key changes to its management board. Simon Cross has become director of finance and Chris Connolly has been appointed director...
46 Up-and-coming multiples
29-May-2008
Rupert Clevely, Lee Cash, Hamish Stoddart, Mark Butler, Chris Gerard, Brian Whiting, smaller managed-pub operators (new entry) Why they are on the...
JW Lees: "We're serious about growth
28-May-2008
JW Lees claims a series of management changes show it is "serious about growth when most companies are cutting costs". Simon Cross is taking over as...
27-May-2008
JW Lees has announced a number of changes to its management board today
15-May-2008 By The PMA Team
Bar Sport, the sports bar operator founded by Scott Murray, is to offer a franchise. The company believes it can expand to about 100 sites in the...
Sharpened focus helps Luminar Group
15-May-2008 By Hamish Champ
Nightclub operator Luminar Group said its strategy of moving towards an estate of high quality, predominantly branded outlets will allow it to...
15-May-2008 By Ewan Turney
Nightclub operator Luminar Leisure has recorded a 1.9% increase in sales from its 87 continuing operations for the year to 28 February. The operator...
Suburban Bar Co creates new group to run wet-led pubs
12-May-2008 By Hamish Champ
Suburban Style Bar has created a subsidiary company to manage the 10 freehold wet-led pubs it bought earlier this year. Beacon Pub Company will run...
Innventive Pubs & Restaurants buys Massive Pub Co sites
23-Apr-2008 By Hamish Champ
Administrators to Massive Pub Company have exchanged contracts to sell 33 sites to Birmingham-based Innventive Pubs & Restaurants (IPR).David...
Luminar sells 26 sites to new company
17-Apr-2008
Luminar has agreed the transfer of 26 units to a new operator, Cavendish Bars.The disposal, which will see Luminar make a net loss on disposal of...
17-Apr-2008 By Ewan Turney
Luminar Leisure has sold 26 nightclubs for 19p each to Cavendish Bars. Cavendish has agreed to buy the leaseholds via the sale of five disposal...
Bank/Zinc acquisition boosts Individual Restaurant Group
31-Mar-2008 By Hamish Champ
Steve Walker, chief executive of the Individual Restaurant Company (IRC), acknowledged the eating out market was getting more "challenging" but said...
Luminar cuts capex by £22m
20-Mar-2008 By Hamish Champ
Nightclub operator Luminar Group is cutting its capital investment programme by £22m over the next two years as it seeks to focus activities on what...
Novus Leisure snaps up Soho Clubs & Bars
18-Mar-2008 By Hamish Champ
Novus Leisure, the private equity-backed Tiger Tiger operator, has completed a deal to buy most of Soho Clubs & Bars (SC&B) from its...
ALMR launches annual operations managers' awards
11-Mar-2008
The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) is inviting entries to its annual Operations Managers Awards.This year's event is being...
Suburban Style Bar Company goes down wet-led route for £4.5m
11-Mar-2008 By Hamish Champ
West Yorkshire-based Suburban Style Bar Company has shelled out £4.5m on 10 wet-led pubs, effectively trebling the size of its North of England...
Plastics rule at Luminar bars
06-Mar-2008
Britain's biggest nightclub operator Luminar says 87% of its venues now serve all drinks in polycarbonate containers. The move to plastics has halved...
03-Mar-2008 By John Harrington
The nightclub operator says the move to polycarbonates has halved insurance premiums
28-Feb-2008 By The PMA Team
MA deputy editor The PMA Team previews the MA100 club meeting
Charles Wells profits hit as costs take their toll
24-Jan-2008 By Hamish Champ
Reorganisation costs and rising raw material prices combined to dent Charles Wells' profitability in 2007.But despite a 17 per cent drop in pre-tax...
18-Jan-2008
Nightclub operator Luminar reports "satisfactory" trade over Christmas and New Year
10-Jan-2008
Things are looking up at the Wadworth brewery, says Roger Protz
Wadworth gets behind anti-drink drive campaign
20-Dec-2007 By Hamish Champ
Devizes-based brewer Wadworth is supporting the government's anti-drink drive campaign over Christmas with a pair of fake hand pumps installed in its...
13-Dec-2007 By The PMA Team
Lincolnshire brewer Batemans has reported an increase of almost 20% in beer volumes on a year-on-year basis. The company has enjoyed booming sales,...
JW Lees launches Grip Glass
08-Nov-2007
Brewer and retailer JW Lees has launched a unique pint glass. The Grip Glass has grooves to fit the hand, allowing a proper grip on the glass....
Scottish & Newcastle 'star chamber' to fend off Carlsberg approach
05-Nov-2007 By Hamish Champ
Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) has created a 'star chamber' of senior board members to see off Carlsberg/Heineken's £6.8bn approach.Officially...
Like-for-like sales up 1.8% at Luminar
01-Nov-2007 By Mark Wingett mark.wingett@william-reed.co.uk
Luminar, the quoted nightclub group, which operates the Liquid, Oceana, and Lava & Ignite chains, has reported a 1.8% increase in like-for-like...