'Upping wages with tips to stop'
31-Jul-2008
The government will announce today that it will close the loophole allowing restaurants to use tips and service charges to bring salaries to the...
Whitbread and M&B in hotel/pub asset swap
31-Jul-2008 By Hamish Champ
Whitbread has agreed to swap 21 hotels owned by Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) and currently operating as Express by Holiday Inn sites in exchange...
Whitbread names kitchens of the year
10-Jul-2008
The top chefs from Whitbread's pub restaurants have taken the honours in the company's kitchen of the year contest after a hard-fought cook off.Nine...
Knight departs as Tye takes the reins at Spirit
10-Jul-2008 By The PMA Team
Punch welcomes ex-Whitbread executive Spirit boss Andrew Knight is to leave the business and is being replaced by former Whitbread executive Michael...
Andrew Knight leaves Spirit Group
07-Jul-2008 By Hamish Champ
Punch Taverns has announced the departure of Spirit Group managing director Andrew Knight with immediate effect.Knight has been in the top job at...
26-Jun-2008 By The PMA Team
All the latest City gossip
Nothing going on but the rent
29-May-2008
Rent levels don't always get good press, but it doesn't pay to generalise Are Punch and Enterprise really the tyrants many licensees make them out to...
Table Table's official debut
22-May-2008
Whitbread has formally launched its new Table Table brand which now operates from 105 sites. Research by Whitbread revealed that UK diners wanted a...
'OFT focuses on beverages in price-fix probe'
29-Apr-2008
The Office of Fair Trading is looking into beverages as part of its latest probe into alleged price-fixing between supermarkets and their suppliers,...
28-Apr-2008 By Ewan Turney
Profits per pub at Whitbread's pub restaurant sites increased by 40%
Reducing discounts pushes up Whitbread pub profits
28-Apr-2008 By Hamish Champ
Whitbread said a scaling back of discounts across its pub estate helped push its sites' profits up 40 per cent year-on-year.The hotels-to-pubs group...
23-Apr-2008 By The PMA Team
Taybarns, the Whitbread eat-all-you-like concept that much of the managed sector is studying, is lining up a third opening. The company is planning...
18-Apr-2008 By The PMA Team
Punch Taverns has rebuffed an approach by M&B to buy Spirit
Business Opinion
08-Nov-2007 By with The PMA Team
Whitbread gears up to tackle competition A couple of years ago, executives at Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) were saying that grabbing market...
Beefed up
08-Nov-2007
Whitbread restaurants MD Mark Phillips is more into steaks than mistakes. Lucy Britner reports It's no secret that Whitbread's pub restaurant brands...
03-Aug-2007 By Mark Wingett of M&C Report
Whitbread has announced it has completed the sale of its David Lloyd Leisure division to Versailles Bidco Limited for £925million
29-Jun-2007 By The PMA Team
Whitbread wants to retain ownership of its freehold pub property, company bosses have told Morgan Stanley analysts at a meeting this week. In a...
8 Tony Hughes
31-May-2007
managing director, M&B pub restaurant division (9)
Pub restaurant revamp pays off for Whitbread
24-Apr-2007 By Hamish Champ
Whitbread has announced plans to build its first new Beefeater pub/restaurant for six years later this year after a programme to revamp its existing...
24-Apr-2007 By The PMA Team
Whitbread's 400 remaining pub restaurants saw a 2.7% increase in like-for-like sales growth in the second half. The remodelling of the Beefeater...
Much at stake for M&B's new steakhouse
18-Jan-2007
A lot rests on the trading success of the Dick Turpin, situated in less-than-inspiring Ilford in Essex. It's a former Beefeater that was converted to...
Whitbread's new plan to pursue pub diners
02-Nov-2006
Whitbread's position in the pub restaurant market reminds me a little of Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) before it was mercifully cut free from its...
24-Oct-2006 By The PMA Team
Whitbread is claiming green shoots of recovery in its 400 or so remaining pub restaurants thanks to better sales at re-modelled sites. Now the...
03-Aug-2006 By The PMA Team
Managed operator Mitchells & Butlers is to convert 11 of its newly acquired 239 Whitbread venues to a new steakhouse brand. The company has been...
Whitbread exits Pizza Hut business
31-Jul-2006
Whitbread has continued the process of scaling back its operations with a £99m deal to sell its 50 per cent stake in Pizza Hut UK to Yum!...
What the Sunday papers said
24-Jul-2006
A leading US hotel and property group is believed to be interested in launching a £3bn bid for Whitbread. Starwood Capital, which is understood to...
21-Jul-2006 By Iain O'Neil
Whitbread has this morning announced the sale of 239 pub/restaurants to Mitchells and Butlers for £497million. The deal, for 235 open pubs and 4...
What the Sunday papers said
25-Jun-2006
Whitbread shares are off their peak of £12.94, reached in March this year, and the upbeat trading statement revealed at last week's AGM, plus the...
What the Sunday papers said
30-Apr-2006
Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries and Greene King are among those looking to buy sites from Whitbread's Beefeater and Brewer's Fayre chains, which...
Michells & Butlers reports healthy sales growth
28-Apr-2006
Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) has thrown down the gauntlet to potential buyers with market-leading sales growth.In the three months to April 22,...
25-Apr-2006 By The PMA Team
Whitbread looks set to sell as many as 250 stand-alone pub restaurants in a move that could raise upwards of £600m. The company will retain 271 pub...
24-Apr-2006 By Iain O'Neil
Whitbread has announced it has sold its 50% stake in the Marriott Hotel chain. The company half-owned Marriott's 46 hotels with the Royal Bank of...
Doubt over R20 move on M&B
17-Mar-2006
While Robert Tchenguiz's R20 was forced to admit its interest in Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) this week, industry watchers remain unconvinced he...
Whitbread sees further pub sales dip
01-Sep-2005
Whitbread has reported a further decline in like-for-like sales on its pub restaurants business, but says moves to revamp the business are having an...
Dusanj brothers ranked at 91 in rich list
12-May-2005
Owners of Cains brewery, Ajmail and Sudarghara Dusanj, have been listed at number 91 in a list of the 300 wealthiest Asian people in the UK. The...
Brewers Fayre searches for British dish to add to menu
09-May-2005
Brewers Fayre is launching a search for a new regional British dish that will appear on the menus of its 280 pub restaurants.The Whitbread brand is...
Tough going for Whitbread pubs
26-Apr-2005
Whitbread has seen a slow down in sales growth at its pubs as consumers grow increasingly cautious on spending. The leisure group said performance at...
Whitbread £800m sell-off begins
29-Oct-2004
The long expected Whitbread sale is on with more than £800m of assets earmarked for disposal by chief executive Alan Parker who has announced a...
English and Irish MPs in smoke-ban talks
07-Oct-2004
A delegation of MPs is due in Dublin today for talks with Government ministers and officials in the Republic on the six-month-old smoking ban....
Making changes
27-Jul-2004
Laurel Pub Company had big plans to develop its pub estate. Chief executive Ian Payne tells Lorna Harrison how its recent pub sale has brought a new...
What the Sunday papers said
25-Jul-2004
Health Secretary John Reid has ordered Britain's publicans and restaurateurs to draw up plans to phase in smoking restrictions across all their...
Spirit sells Premier Lodge to Whitbread
23-Jul-2004
Spirit Group has agreed the sale of the Premier Lodge budget hotel business to Whitbread.The £536.2m deal includes £505m for 141 hotels, which will...
Whitbread extends Beefeater II to 40 more pubs
05-May-2004
Whitbread is set to roll-out Beefeater Mark II to 40 more outlets over the next 12 months.The leisure group has so far converted 24 sites to the new...
What the Sunday papers say
03-May-2004
The Sunday TimesAndrew Coppel, the former chief executive of Queens Moat Houses, has teamed up with Collins Stewart, on its bid for Premier Lodge,...
Whitbread pubs boss Bill Shannon quits
27-Feb-2004
Bill Shannon, the head of Whitbread's pubs and restaurants division, has quit the leisure group.Mr Shannon was one of the front runners to succeed...
Whitbread looks to be solving leisure formula
06-Nov-2003
From pillar of the old beerage to sprawling leisure conglomerate. That is the transformation achieved at Whitbread by chief executive David Thomas...
High-street fortune favours the small
28-Aug-2003
If you believe the pundits, opening a high-street pub or bar right now is akin to committing business suicide. But the pub investment cycle has...
Yvonne Lester
15-May-2003
The funeral takes place this Friday (16 May) of SLV stalwart Yvonne Lester, who was secretary of the SLV north west fund-raising committee. Yvonne,...
Whitbread student chef wins Design a Dish final
14-May-2003
Young pub chefs have been showing off their skills and creativity in an attempt to win a trip to New Orleans.Eight student chefs from Whitbread...
Decision soon over new-look Beefeater
08-May-2003
By MA Reporter Whitbread is close to deciding on a new look and menus for its 29-year-old Beefeater pub chain, after trialling modifications and...
