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...
14-Aug-2008 By John Harrington
A licensee has been ordered to refuse service to customers who smoke on the street outside her pub. This message must be carried on signs at the...
Chris Maclean: The smell of fear
04-Aug-2008 By Chris Maclean
These are interesting times. There is a palpable smell of fear in the air. Businesses need to be determined and resolute to compete in this...
'Continental-style cafe culture failed in Britian'
21-Jul-2008
Ministers are preparing to toughen up the laws on alcohol sales because Labour's hopes of creating a Continental-style cafe culture have not...
Midlands host stripped of licence
17-Jul-2008
A licensee has been stripped of his personal licence — and licensees of four pubs fined £20,000 between them — for screening Sky using domestic...
Focus South East: Reading the ban
17-Jul-2008
Sitting in the stylish, slate-flagged garden of the Vine in Tenterden, Kent, under a sunny June sky it was easy to imagine that this was just how the...
Football Preview: Brands are football supporters
16-Jul-2008
Big-name brands are once more piling behind football, in the hope that they can associate their drinks with one of the biggest pub draws there...
11-Jul-2008 By Tamara Sender, M&C Report
Underdog, the London-based food and drink operator, has sold its Marquess Tavern pub in Islington to fund the rollout of its award-winning Hawksmoor...
Bar Talk
26-Jun-2008
Would you allow smoking inside your pub again if you had the choice? Ric Sainty The Old Spot Dursley Gloucestershire No, I've had health problems...
Bringing Out The Best
19-Jun-2008
Liberal Democrat peer and Lords spokesman Rupert Redesdale was recently appointed chairman of the Best Bar None (BBN) scheme, which recognises...
News update: Sell More pubs make progress
06-Jun-2008
* Sometimes businesses have to take one step back in order to take two steps forward. The White Hart, Hull, is planning a relaunch as a rebranded...
Punch Tavern, Fleet Street, London
01-Jun-2008
Located at the heart of London's legal district, the Punch Tavern is frequented by the many local suits working nearby. However, with no outdoor...
27-May-2008 By MA reporter
'Everyone loves football, especially a major tournamet, even if they may be a little disappointed that England didn't make it this time. I would...
Chris Maclean: Grief at a broken window
19-May-2008 By Chris Maclean
Friday night's Chinese meal with the staff was violently interrupted when one of the pub's huge acid-etched glass windows was smashed. A young lad,...
'Deal to buy Regent Inns "weeks away"'
27-Apr-2008
Sun Capital Partners, the private equity firm which bought the Lee Cooper jeans brand in 2005, is one of two companies in detailed talks to acquire...
£400K makeover for Northants pub
24-Apr-2008
An Everards-owned Northamptonshire pub has been transformed with a £400,000 refurbishment as part of a bid to make the group's pubs the "focus of...
Bar Room Bar bosses advising on Massive deal
17-Apr-2008 By The PMA Team
Pubco directors give private equity advice Bridgehouse considers all 33 Massive sites Bar Room Bar directors Tony and Ross Sanders are understood to...
14-Apr-2008 By The PMA Team
Tony and Ross Sanders are believed to be advising private equity firm Bridgewater is relation to the deal
10-Apr-2008 By Ewan Turney
Smoke rebel Hamish Howitt has won his fight to keep his Blackpool pub open. Howitt won his appeal against Blackpool Council's decision to revoke the...
Ready for action
09-Apr-2008
From a Southampton community local to a high street bar in Hull… they are all here. Last week we met our new line-up of category champions as we...
So what do BDMs really do all day?
09-Apr-2008 By Matt Eley Matt
Zara Hinds arrives to pick me up in her sparkling company car at exactly the time she said she would. Precision and being where you are needed turn...
Punk protest over Darling's Budget
08-Apr-2008 By James Wilmore
Who said the spirit of punk was dead? Two licensees have taken the campaign to ban Alistair Darling from pubs one step further by producing a protest...
Publicans urged to lose the fear of food
02-Apr-2008
Most Pubs can boost their business with a simple, profitable food offer, no matter how daunting the prospect seems Visitors to Publican Live were...
Laurel Pub Company considers administration
18-Mar-2008
The owner of Laurel Pub Company is reported to be ready to call in the administrators for the whole group after failing to sell 95 loss-making pubs,...
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...
Chris Maclean: In praise of a proper pub
29-Feb-2008 By Chris Maclean
It's time to stand up for pubs. Proper pubs. Pubs that stand for something traditional, decent, honest and true. In the debates raging at the moment...
Focus Outdoors: Pub turns inside out
29-Feb-2008
Sitting outside the Brunswick in Charminster, Dorset, you might be fooled into thinking you were indoors. The pub has recently undergone a £300,000...
Laurel Pub Company puts 94 sites on the market
26-Feb-2008 By Hamish Champ
In an anticipated move, Laurel Pub Company has put 94 of its struggling leasehold sites on the market.The properties predominantly include wet-led...
Hamish Champ: What do they mean "Down with pubs"???
21-Feb-2008 By Hamish Champ
It's not often I'll implore you, dear reader, to check out the website of a rival publication. However in this instance I'm making an exception. As...
InBrief
14-Feb-2008
Preston's losing one pub a month Plungington Taverns licensee Graham Rowson claims that pubs in Preston, Lancashire, are closing at a rate of one per...
07-Feb-2008 By John Harrington
Auditor KPMG is hired by the Home Office to scrutinise the trade's voluntary code
BarTalk
07-Feb-2008
What do you think of the proposed Punch-Mitchells & Butlers merger? Graham Rowson Plungington Tavern Preston Lancashire I don't think this merger...
NewsDigest
31-Jan-2008
Agilo, a London-based investment firm, has bought bar operator Sports Cafe for an undisclosed sum. The firm has acquired five of the eight sites...
Best Bar None rewards Doncaster pubs
28-Jan-2008
Richard and David McIvor picked up the top prizes at Doncaster's Best Bar None awards for the second year running.The brother's town-centre venue,...
Massive Pub Company calls in the administrators
28-Jan-2008 By Hamish Champ
Massive Pub Company, the London-based multiple operator, has put 34 of its 46 sites into administration.It is understood the pub operator called in...
Focus Wales: Brains on expansion trail
25-Jan-2008
Welsh regional brewer SA Brain is looking north, and west, in a bid to expand its estate from 260 to 350 pubs."Brains continues to invest and has an...
Blurring the boundaries
14-Dec-2007
For better or for worse, the smoking ban is here to stay. The challenge now for pubs is learning how to make the most of the new era....
Pub Food Forum: What's driving food in pubs?
13-Dec-2007
THE PANEL members for our Pub Food Forum all brought different perspectives to a discussion of the market in the year which saw the rest of the UK...
19-Nov-2007
Smoke ban rebel Hamish Howitt has had his premises licence revoked. Howitt, the first licensee to be fined for flouting the smoking ban, said he...
Roy Beers: Your Local needs you - for heaven's sake go and have a drink!
15-Nov-2007
"What are you annoyed about this week?" I asked, hoping for a suitable cue for an interesting subject to write about.The new (Scottish) Licensing Act...
Laurel float in 2008?
08-Nov-2007 By The PMA Team
Property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz is looking to chop his Laurel Pub Company in half towards the end of next year and float the food-led division. The...
ePub: The electronic eye
06-Nov-2007
Scottish bar and nightclub operator Castle Leisure Group (CLG) is already enjoying the fruits of new EPoS and back-office systems installed earlier...
Three smoke-ban rebels quit trade
01-Nov-2007 By Ewan Turney ewan.turney@william-reed.co.uk
Three of the smoke-ban rebel hosts are quitting the trade. Hamish Howitt and Tony Blows have put their pubs up for sale - but vowed to see their...
Guide aims to reduce pub violence
11-Oct-2007
A new guide has been released to help reduce the risk of violence at licensed premises. The guide Managing Safety in Bars, Pubs and Clubs has been...
Licensing@aol.com
11-Oct-2007
Notifying personal changes QI have just received both my paper and card personal licence from the council. They both state the name of the pub I was...
25 Ways To Improve The Pub Industry
04-Oct-2007
Service standardsOne of the pub trade's weakest points but also the easiest to solve. You don't have to talk to customers at length, but a pleasant...
Trade groups launch risk assessment guide
03-Oct-2007 By James Wilmore
A new guide has been launched to help licensees assess the risk of violence in their pub. The six-page Managing Safety in Bars, Pubs and Clubs,...
Back to Basics: When is a sports pub not a sports pub?
03-Oct-2007
Unless you've been hiding under an oval-shaped rock for the past four weeks, you will know that the Rugby World Cup is in full flight, and that pubs...
Smoke ban rebels defy councils to fight on
27-Sep-2007 By James Wilmore
Smoke ban rebels Hamish Howitt and Nick Hogan are vowing to continue to fight on despite enduring battles to save their pubs after wrangles with...
Smoke ban hits wet sales in bars
19-Sep-2007 By James Wilmore
Wet sales have fallen in a third of style bars since the smoking ban, a survey by The Publican's sister magazine Theme has revealed. The worrying...
