Beer tax continued to rise and a record number of pubs closed, but it wasn't all doom and gloom in the pub sector in 2009. As the year draws to a close take a look back with BigHospitality at the major events of this year
Operators in London’s Smithfield Market claim to have lost thousands of pounds’ worth of trade and stock because energy supplier EDF failed to stop power cuts over the Christmas period.
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is calling on consumers to help fund a legal challenge against the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) report that ruled out action against the beer tie.
Restaurateur Jamie Barber, owner of the Villandry and Kitchen Italia brands, has called for large restaurant companies to do more to persuade the government to support the industry
Mixologist JJ Goodman and his friend and business partner James Hopkins are given the chance to open a restaurant with Raymond Blanc after winning the third series of the BBC Two show The Restaurant
The Academy of Food & Wine has highlighted the importance of good communication between front and back-of-house teams as it starts the search for the Gastronomy Team of the Year 2010
Helen Darroze’s Michelin-starred Espelette restaurant at The Connaught in Mayfair has been blasted by animal welfare activists for serving Dutch veal when waiters claimed it was British
Michelin-starred Indian chef Atul Kochhar is to open Colony Bar & Grill, a new mid-market venture, with restaurateur Carlo Spetale in Marylebone in February 2010
The Orchid Group has bought 43 former Premium Bars & Restaurants (PBR) sites taking its portfolio to 292 pubs, bars and restaurants across the UK and safeguarding more than 1,500 jobs
Bar/restaurant operator Drake & Morgan has announced plans to expand in London next year, with the launch of a third site near St. Paul’s Cathedral in April 2010
The Chancellor confirms that alcohol tax increases will remain in place after announcing in his Pre Budget Report that the VAT rate will return to 17.5 per cent in January
The Vineyard Group, operator of The Vineyard at Stockcross and Donnington Valley Hotel, are to manage the seven former Folio hotels owned by sister company Sonoma Ltd
Chefs have topped a poll of the unhealthiest lifestyles in Britain, smoking more cigarettes, eating more junk food and drinking more alcohol than any other profession
Former Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons chef Dave Watts joins Welsh hotel Hurst House on the Marsh as head chef and Andrew Nicholson returns to Cumbria's Linthwaite House as general manager
The owners of Pan Asian restaurant chain Cosmo have put up a £10,000 reward to find the person responsible for a fake news article that claimed their Bristol restaurant had been shut down for serving dog meat.
The Forum of Private Business is urging the government to give help to small firms in employment and training after 22 per cent of bosses said they were forced to provide staff with basic skills training themselves because of a lack of external providers.
Calorie information appearing on menus could soon become commonplace across the UK according to the Food Standards Agency following a trial involving 21 restaurants and other catering businesses
Newly formed company Akkeron Hotels has acquired eight former Folio properties, which went into administration in December last year, as a platform for building a portfolio of 150 regional hotels across the UK
Gordon Ramsay has handed control of Maze and his eponymous restaurant at The London in New York back to the hotel, nine months after doing the same at his Prague, Paris and LA restaurants
Rockliffe Hall, the five star luxury hotel that opened in County Durham last month, has appointed Peter Llewellyn, a former assistant manager at Chewton Glen, hotel manager
Terre a Terre, the innovative vegetarian restaurant situated in Brighton, has released its long-awaited cookbook that demonstrates how meat-free food has more to do with indulgence than abstinence
A batch of Spanish eggs linked to an outbreak of salmonella in a number of restaurants and catering establishments, has sparked the Food Standards Agency to warn caterers to cook their eggs properly
