Sparkling wine and champagne sales are set to bubble up to £2bn by the end of the holiday season December 15, 2016 Britain's sparkling wine and champagne sales will continue to fizz over the holiday season to break £2bn by the new year. Twenty million more bottles of sparkling wine were sold in 2016 in the UK compared to the previous year, the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) said in its year-end market report. With 114m litres, or 152 [...]
Our overly centralised tax system has exacerbated the business rates debacle February 22, 2017 Business rates may not be the most captivating subject for most City A.M. readers. But the impact of a delayed revaluation on our shops, pubs and cafes might well be. Changes affecting the £25bn a year tax that ultimately goes to pay for social care, schools, Tube trains and roads are due to come into [...]
Summer sun and price cuts drive best quarter for food sales since 2013 October 11, 2016 The food sector has had its best quarter of sales in two years, according to new figures. Like-for-like sales across all retail categories increased 0.4 per cent year-on-year in September, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG. Read more: Rosé wine, gin and ice cream sales gave Waitrose a summer boost last [...]
Don’t listen to the “cabal” of elites trying to keep us in the EU, says Wetherspoon boss November 29, 2016 The boss of Britain's largest pub chain has attacked a "cabal of politicians and elite groups… fighting to overturn the [Brexit] decision" comparing them with "undemocratic and totalitarian" regimes of the past. Wetherspoon's chairman and founder Tim Martin, who was vocal in campaigning for Britain to leave the EU in the run-up to the Brexit vote, warned [...]
Live By Night film review: Ben Affleck’s gangster epic can’t match its lofty aspirations January 12, 2017 For his fourth outing behind the camera, Ben Affleck sets his sights on the gangster epic, a genre that for many is the yardstick against which directorial greatness is measured. Returning once again to Boston (three of his four movies as director have been shot in the state where he grew up), Affleck also screen-writes, [...]
Competition led sales to fall at one of the US’s first craft breweries. What’s next for the UK’s craft beer market? November 28, 2016 A major craft brewery in the United States reported sales were down as new craft beers crowd the market, but microbrewers in the UK shouldn’t worry, according to the Society of Independent Brewers. D.L. Geary Brewing Co., founded in 1983, was the first craft brewer in Portland, Maine, helping start the craft beer trend take off in [...]
There is now a “Come What May” beer to celebrate Theresa May’s first PMQs July 20, 2016 In the summer that brought us Brexit beers and referendum beermats, it's no surprise that ale is still political and there is now a Theresa May-themed beer to cheers with ahead of her first Prime Minister's Questions today. "Come What May", a new brew inspired by the prime minister, will be available in two pubs [...]
Why Fat Cat Tuesday is “pub economics” – and when will your pay overtake the average UK worker? January 5, 2016 Britain’s top bosses have already earned the equivalent of how much the average worker takes home in their entire yearly pay packet, according to new research. The chief executives of the FTSE 100 companies will have earned the average annual salary of £27,645 by the end of Tuesday, the second working day of 2016. However, [...]
Fuller’s toasts new brewing managing director after beer sales slump July 28, 2016 Fuller, Smith and Turner will be raising a glass today after it announced it has appointed a new managing director to lead its beer company. Simon Dodd will take up the role as managing director of its brewing arm and join the board of directors on 1 August. Fuller's makes London Pride, Quintessential British Pale Ale and [...]
Super-premium Brockmans Gin toasts record sales for the first half of 2016 as it basks in UK gin renaissance and expands overseas November 21, 2016 Brockmans Gin has served up record sales for the first-half of 2016 as super-premium gin continues to grow in popularity both in the UK and abroad. Total revenue grew 116 per cent in the first-half of 2016 to £2.6m as the company capitalised on the growing gin renaissance in the UK where sales are expected to [...]