The Restaurant Group reports increased revenue but reduced profit as it lays out issues with Frankie & Benny’s August 26, 2016 The Restaurant Group (TRG) has laid out the reasons behind the poor performance of its biggest brand, Frankie and Benny's, as it reported an uptick in revenue but a dip in profit in the first half of 2016 The figures Revenue grew to £358.7m in the 27 weeks to 3 July, up 3.4 per cent from [...]
Libor charges are about evidence, not people, says fraud squad boss David Green October 25, 2016 The fraud squad boss today hit back at criticism his agency, which is currently investigating the Libor scandal, had busied itself with relatively junior bankers when it should be going after the bigger fish. David Green, director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), told the Justice Select Committee he and his team were obliged as prosecutors to go where [...]
Chin chin! Fair deal for pub tenants under a new beer tie crackdown October 29, 2015 It's bottoms up for pub tenants, who yesterday came one step closer to fairer regulation on controversial “beer tie” agreements that often result in publicans being overcharged by their landlords. In the first of a two-part consultation, the government will seek views from the industry on a new pubs code with a “market rent only” [...]
Enterprise Inns posts revenue growth and announces it will sell 22 commercial property sites in a £20m deal by mid-June May 17, 2016 The UK's largest pub company, Enterprise Inns, has made "good progress" in the first half of 2016 and is primed to sell 22 of its commercial sites in a £20m deal by mid-June. The figures Enterprise Inn's revenues nudged up by £3m in the first half of 2016, from £302m this time last year to [...]
Consumer spending hit a 13-month high in August as Brits overspent on holiday September 6, 2016 Consumer spending hit a 13-month high in August, boosted by the nation's holiday overspend on the back of the decline in the value of sterling. Overall, spending increased by 4.2 per cent year-on-year in July, according to Barclaycard, which collects data on consumer spending in everything from retail to food and leisure. Holiday spending boosted [...]
Wolfpack Lager owners and rugby union players Alistair Hargreaves and Chris Wyles talk about the transition from pitch to entrepreneurship October 3, 2016 "You can feel yourself getting older, tireder and sorer. The question inevitably becomes, ‘what next?’, says Saracens player Alistair Hargreaves. “It’s a position most sportspeople find themselves in: you’ve been doing something you love your whole life, then you’re faced with the prospect of not doing it. Playing engulfs your life, so it’s actually pretty [...]
New UK restaurant openings soar as pubs dwindle September 21, 2015 The number of restaurants across the UK surpassed the number of pubs that are predominantly drinking holes for the first time this year, fuelled by the booming casual dining trend and improving consumer confidence. Research released yesterday by AlixPartners and CGA Peach reveals that a net 1,770 new restaurants opened in the year to 30 [...]
The Snaffling Pig co-founders talk GoPros, Dragons’ Den, jail and setting up a business with £500 August 15, 2016 This is the difference between pork scratchings and pork crackling: scratchings are cooked at one temperature, which is why they can be perilously hard. Crackling has two meanings: it’s the stuff on top of belly of pork; it’s also pieces of skin and fat cooked at a lower temperature with a short burst of more heat [...]
Which set of fans drank more during yesterday’s England vs. Wales clash? June 17, 2016 Do you drink more in commiseration or celebration? It's an age-old question. Is the desire to hit the bottle or go out on the town a bigger draw? And when do we feel best about splashing the cash – when half of it's getting spilt on the floor or being stewed over in a darkened corner? The answer [...]
Restaurant review: Luca is the Italian nobody expected from The Clove Club’s Isaac McHale January 18, 2017 Isaac McHale was such a rebellious Young Turk that while he was still cheffing at the Ledbury, he ran a series of pop-ups under the name The Young Turks. He and James Lowe – then the head chef at St John Bread and Wine – would serve up whatever they damn-well pleased, in venues not [...]