Heineken is poised to win Punch Taverns’ hand in takeover battle December 15, 2016 Punch Taverns today agreed to a £403m offer from Heineken and its investment partner Patron Capital. The Dutch brewing giant has until mid-January to make a firm offer. The current offer will lapse if a competing bid of 200p or more is made. Heineken and its partner Patron are facing competition from Alan McIntosh and [...]
Home nations Euro 2016 game between England and Wales last Thursday drove London pub sales nearly 300 per cent June 23, 2016 Pubs turned out to be the true winners of last Thursday's England v Wales Euro 2016 battle, as the match drove trading in London pubs up by almost 300 per cent. Takings across the capital surged 296 per cent during the home nations game, in which England won 2-1, compared to an average of 163 per cent across [...]
EXCLUSIVE: Punch Taverns at centre of takeover battle as entrepreneur bids 185p per share December 14, 2016 Punch Taverns is set to become the focus of a bid battle between Heineken and Alan McIntosh, a wealthy entrepreneur who was one of the company's founders. McIntosh has bid 185p a share for the pub company, City A.M. revealed today. Heineken has made an approach of 174p a share for the company. Punch Taverns issued a statement saying: The [...]
West Berkshire Brewery raises glass as it expands into Islington-based pub Shillibeers and puts pen to paper on new brewery June 2, 2016 Crowdfunding beer maker West Berkshire Brewery is raising a glass after it put pen to paper on a new £3m custom-built brewery and secured its first urban pub, Shillibeers, in Islington. The new brewery will allow West Berkshire to increase its brewing capacity tenfold and also to provide packaging for other breweries. The brewer has said the [...]
London just got the first ever contactless payment beer pump December 16, 2016 It looks like bartenders are the latest workers to be threatened by robotic replacements. The world's first contactless, self-pouring beer pump prototype has been launched by Barclaycard. Set up in Henry's Cafe and Bar in Piccadilly, the first-of-its-kind contraption has been dubbed "Pay @ Pump", and it's designed to help pubs and bars reduce queuing times [...]
Four extra bank holidays: Just how much would Labour’s policy cost the economy? April 23, 2017 We may already be in the season of bank holiday bonanzas (thanks Easter!) but who wouldn’t want more? The country was treated to an additional day off in 2011 for the royal wedding and then again for the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations a year later, but now Labour wants to give the country four (yes, [...]
The Harcourt restaurant review: Reindeer and meatballs are reimagined as pub grub in Marylebone April 12, 2016 There are enough fancy ways to dine in London to fill your fancy pants several times over. You have 12-course tasting menus and sprawling art deco palaces and molecular gastronomy and precise fine dining and sharing concepts and foraged ingredients and organic gluten-free superfoods and authentic indigenous cuisines from previously undiscovered nations. But sometimes you [...]
Highland Europe leads $40m investment in StarLeaf, a UK tech startup making video conference calls loads easier May 9, 2017 Highland Europe has led a multimillion pound investment in a high growth startup specialising in video conference calling technology. Cambridge-founded StarLeaf has landed $40m (£31m) from the venture capital firm which has previously invested in Brandwatch, WeTransfer and Outfittery, along with Grafton Capital. Read more: Meet the 17 high-growth startups being hot-housed by the LSE [...]
The Restaurant Group’s share price has jumped as it reveals its turnaround plan after a tough 2016 March 8, 2017 After a challenging 2016, The Restaurant Group (TRG) said it is ready to pursue a new turnaround plan to grow its business. The figures The Frankie & Benny's owner said total like-for-like sales fell 3.9 per cent while revenue increased 3.7 per cent to £710.7m, in line with expectations for the year to 1 January. Adjusted pre-tax profit [...]
Queen’s 90th and Euro 2016 offer hopes to pubs as beer sales decline steadies May 5, 2016 The decline of beer sales is steadying – and the Queen has helped improve the fortunes of pubs further, according to the British Beer and Pub Association. The decline of sales slowed in the first quarter of 2016, falling one per cent on the first quarter of 2015, according to the Beer Barometer. It said [...]