All Bar One owner Mitchells & Butlers’ share price lifts despite drop in full-year sales September 22, 2016 All Bar One owner Mitchells and Butlers has toasted a rise in drinks sales during the summer heatwave, but this hasn't been enough to lift a decline in turnover over the full year. The figures Like-for-like sales in the 51 weeks to 17 September fell by 0.8 per cent, the pub and bar group said today [...]
London is still the indisputable hotbed of eating and drinking in the UK, but growth in licensed premises is booming in other cities June 2, 2016 London is still the indisputable hotbed of eating and drinking out in the UK, but restaurant and bar operators are shifting their focus towards urban regional hotspots for new openings. Food-led openings in the capital increased by 13.4 per cent over the last five years, though this trailed behind 22.4 per cent growth in other [...]
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 [...]
National Golf Month kicks off this week, so here’s our guide to teeing off in central London April 24, 2016 For all its swanky bars and tourist attractions, central London is in dire need of a golf course. City workers are rarely seen carrying golf clubs in the Square Mile – many well-heeled workers either go through up-market travel agents or shell out for expensive memberships at clubs in the Home Counties to get their [...]
The Long Weekend review: Taxidermy hares and a Scandi-cool spa invigorate The Wild Rabbit hotel in the Cotswolds May 6, 2016 The weekend With the gentle Cotswolds hills and honey-coloured villages on your doorstep, you can spend entire days out exploring this beautiful part of the UK. Then bed down in The Wild Rabbit, a modern day inn perfect for cityfolks looking for a manicured version of the country break. Where? The village of Kingham is [...]
All Bar One and Harvester owner Mitchells & Butlers reinstates dividends despite “modest sales” November 24, 2015 FTSE 250-listed pub group Mitchells & Butlers is resuming dividend payments after a seven year break. The figures Revenue at the group, which owns All Bar One, Browns and Harvester brands, was up 6.6 per cent in the full year ending 26 September, to £2.1bn, and pre-tax profits were just up on last year's £123m, at £126m. However, like-for-likes softened over the [...]
Enjoy your cider with a view at The Gun in London Docklands September 1, 2015 It’s easy to forget how important the River Thames was to London in past centuries. But a trip to The Gun in the city's Docklands will put that straight. It's a slice of history all right – even Lord Nelson used to drink a pint or two here. Yet today, the pub is [...]
Pub industry says end of beer tie system could lead to closures and job losses November 19, 2014 Britain’s pub groups woke up with a hangover yesterday after MPs voted in favour of a shake up of Britain’s nearly 400-year-old beer-tie system, warning that a change to rules could lead to further pub closures across the country. Companies. including Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns – two of the UK’s largest tenanted [...]
Gordon Castle: Let us whisky you away to Scotland March 8, 2015 It was here atop the snow-spattered hills of Speyside in the Scottish Highlands that King Macbeth was said to have met his violent end. According to legend, it was the future King Malcolm III who stabbed him in 1057 (he died several weeks later). Life in the valleys rising up either side of the river [...]
Karpo is a curate’s egg but its kitchen still impresses September 3, 2012 RESTAURANT KARPO 23-27 Euston Road, NW1 2SD Tel: 020 7843 2221 FOOD *** SERVICE **** ATMOSPHERE *** Cost per person without wine: £30 Train stations don’t tend to attract the nicest crowds. Wherever you go in the world, the very worst people from that area will naturally gravitate towards the train station; the pimps and [...]