Brits spend £4.1bn drinking beer at home during cost of living and price of a pint crises July 4, 2023 Brits are staying at home and cracking open cold beers from the fridge, as twin cost of living and price of a pint crises change drinkers’ habits. New research out today show a 25 per cent surge in beer sales in supermarkets and shops outside local boozers, during the cost of living crisis. While the [...]
Wagamama owner waves goodbye to CFO as part of top team shake up June 21, 2023 Wagamama’s owner The Restaurant Group (TRG) is waving goodbye to its chief financial officer, Kirk Davis, as part of a shake up of its top team. The hospitality group, which also owns high street eateries such as Frankie & Bennys, said that Davis will step down after the publication of its interim results in September [...]
Wetherspoon boss: Brits will have to get used to an £8 pint June 19, 2023 Wetherspoon CEO Tim Martin has warned Brits that a pint will “quite probably” hit £8 – but he’ll try and keep prices lower in his own pubs. Breweries have been upping prices in recent months as a result of higher energy costs and price pressure in the supply chain. A number of breweries are reportedly [...]
If we want to cut immigration, we have to be honest about the trade-offs May 26, 2023 From our universities, to our health service and the productivity of our economy, cutting immigration would change the structure of all of these and the workers we recruit, writes Ben Ramanauskas
Wetherspoon chief’s solution to labour shortage – ‘Get the b******s back to work!’ May 14, 2023 JD Wetherspoon chief Tim Martin has called for firms and the government to do more to stop people retiring early, demanding “we should get the b******s back to work.” UK labour shortages have been exacerbated by Britons leaving the workforce before the State Pension age of 66, increasing the number of economically inactive in the [...]
Hospitality: BoE interest rates hike could ‘significantly impact businesses’ May 11, 2023 The hospitality sector has expressed concerns that the Bank of England’s decision to raise interest rates could “significantly impact business viability,” as the interest rates on loans many pubs and restaurants took out to survive the pandemic are now set to rise. “Hospitality was the business sector most affected by the pandemic, with a large [...]
FTSE 100 close: ASOS shares nosedive 22 per cent after posting dim results May 10, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 slipped in the City today as online fashion retailer ASOS was pummelled after a dim set of results. The capital’s premier index shed 0.29 per cent to close at 7,741.32 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, lost 0.15 per [...]
Wetherspoon on track for ‘record’ year as budget boozer shrugs off inflation woes May 10, 2023 JD Wetherspoon is expecting a “record” high in sales this year as the budget pub chain shrugs off inflationary and supply chain woes, sending its shares – with the company’s shares soaring over seven per cent when markets opened this morning. The London-listed boozer said that sales during the Easter week were the highest-ever for [...]
‘Worse than the pandemic’: Pub bodies warn of closures as energy bills relief scheme ends April 4, 2023 Hospitality bodies have warned that business failure is worse now than it was during the pandemic as the sector braces itself for the first month of trading following the end of the government’s energy bill relief scheme. “We’re seeing an acceleration of business failure which is now worse than the pandemic,” Emma McClarkin, chief executive [...]
The Notebook: Victoria Scholar on inflation, Ocado’s woes, and why Ted Lasso is a blessed relief March 28, 2023 The Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has warned firms against rising prices to offset inflation. He told the BBC, “please understand if we get inflation embedded, interest rates will have to go up further and higher inflation really benefits nobody.” The latest UK inflation rate for February surprised economists by picking up again to [...]