The UK’s hospitality industry is set to benefit from the double bank holiday weekend afforded by the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee as the majority of Brits plan to remain on home soil to celebrate.
Absolute Pubs, the independent pub chain founded in Surrey in 2008, has announced it has signed contracts on a venue in Sunbury-on-Thames taking the business up to four pubs in as many years.
London-based brewer and pub operator Fuller’s has announced it experienced a ‘very positive’ last year of trading with growth across its business but revealed the beginning of 2012 had been the ‘most volatile’ start to a year ever for the company.
Marco Pierre White's Kitchen Wars, the new TV show from the former Michelin-starred celebrity chef which seeks out the best restaurateur couples, is to air on Thursday 7 June, Channel 5 has announced.
The owner of fast casual Italian restaurant chain Vapiano has pledged to make the UK the 'number one priority' market for expansion around the world as it aims to build on the two sites it currently operates here.
Independent Yorkshire-based brewery Wharfebank has taken over its second pub after its managing director Martin Kellaway refused to watch another community pub disappear.
Women 1st, the programme founded by People 1st to encourage women in the hospitality industry, has revealed the shortlist for its 2012 Shine Awards with Jill Stein and Red Hot World Buffet co-founder Helen Dhaliwal both recognised.
A new awards scheme designed to celebrate innovation and forward-thinking within the food and drink world has voted former St John chef Douglas McMaster Best Irreverent Chef.
Mark Hix's latest restaurant, Tramshed on Rivington Street in Shoreditch, has finally opened and BigHospitality sat down with the trend-setting chef, restaurateur and writer to talk about the project and his career in the industry.
The Zetter hotel’s group HR director Lindsey Venter is to take part in a live Twitter chat with officials from Transport for London (TfL) and O2 tomorrow to help businesses in the capital plan around The Olympics.
The Hoxton Hotel has been sold for an undisclosed sum to boutique investment firm Ennismore Capital which is planning to grow the brand and expand to further sites in London and abroad.
Restaurateur Russell Norman has confirmed plans to extend the Polpo brand by signing his sixth restaurant in London with business partner Richard Beatty.
Evans & Peel Detective Agency - a new Prohibition-style bar and restaurant featuring bespoke interior, 1920’s-themed food and drink and a unique members club - is set to open its doors in the heart of South Kensington in June.
Global hotel chain Accor and the independent Summer Isles Hotel in Achiltibuie, North West Scotland, have both been named in a list of the best workplaces by the Great Place to Work institute.
Jamie Barber has revealed he plans to expand both of his current restaurant ventures with the opening of a brasserie under the Hush name and a rollout to at least two more sites in the short-term of the Brasilian BBQ concept Cabana.
Eight pubs in the Peak District & Derbyshire are to offer tourist information centre services as a pilot scheme is launched which will see visitor information points installed in bars across the area.
The average rating for a UK hotel or B&B on reviews website TripAdvisor has hit its highest level yet with UK hotels now scoring more highly than many of their European equivalents.
Michelin-starred chef Raymond Blanc's mid-range concept Brasserie Blanc is to pursue its expansion strategy of opening in the provinces after it completes the conversion of former Chez Gerard sites in London, chief executive Mark Derry has revealed.
Charli Matthews of writing and brand language consultancy The Writer, gives her top tips on how restaurants, hotels and pubs should approach menu-writing.
Water systems manufacturer Vivreau has formed a 'strategic partnership' with water filtration specialist Brita to enable both companies to extend their reach to wider markets.
The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has issued a 10 point plan to tackle beer duty fraud as the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group continues an inquiry into the issue.
The owner of long-standing Bath restaurant The Hole in the Wall has made claims he was being ‘robbed by the staff’ which led to the site’s immediate closure and placement on the market, BigHospitality has discovered.
Prison restaurant charity The Clink, Spirit Pub Company and Michelin-starred celebrity chef Raymond Blanc have all been recognised for contributing to sustainable and environmental excellence in the Footprint Awards 2012.
Coco di Mama, the Italian fast casual and quick service operator founded by a former investment banker and management consultant, opens its second site in the City of London at the end of May.
Restaurants and hotels including Zizzi and Hilton Park Lane tell Bighospitality about special offers and promotions they're running to help attract more customers.
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has announced its long standing chairman David Webster is to retire at the end of the year with former Unilever chief executive Patrick Cescau named as his successor.
Industry veteran Mark Derry has built a reputation running and advising premium casual dining restaurant brands. In 2007 his Loch Fyne Restaurants company was sold to Greene King; now as chief executive of Brasserie Blanc Derry is leading the group in...
Nearly half of hospitality and leisure businesses are hoping to obtain additional sources of finance to assist with their expansion over the coming months as many look to return to growth in 2012.
London’s restaurants, pubs and hotels are being urged to make last minute plans to ensure deliveries reach them and that staff can get to work during the Olympics as Transport for London (TfL) demonstrates the chaos that temporary road changes could cause...
London-based pub operator Young's has declared the last financial year was a landmark and transformational twelve months for the business with pre-tax profits for the company surging nearly 18 per cent as it ceased brewing and fully integrated the...
Michelin-starred chef and restaurateur brothers Chris and Jeff Galvin are to make their restaurant debut in Scotland when they open two eateries in historic Edinburgh hotel The Caledonian when Hilton Worldwide unveils the venue as a luxury Waldorf Astoria...
BigHospitality rounds up the latest appointments in the hospitality industry. This month sees key appointments at hotels, restaurants and pubs including The Leaconfield, Jurys Inn and Vinoteca.
Jan Konetzki from Restaurant Gordon Ramsay was last night crowned winner of the Moët UK Sommelier of the Year 2012 competition in a closely contested final at the London International Wine Fair at ExCel.
Red Hot World Buffet has reaffirmed its aim to open 25 new sites by 2015 and has revealed plans to expand to Glasgow and Sheffield in the next 12 months as the company continues to thrive while the economic downturn continues.
The winners of VisitEngland's Excellence Awards 2012 have been revealed, with the Bath Priory and Rockliffe Hall hotels among the hospitality businesses receiving the English tourist board's top Gold accolade.
Independent hotels should not be concerned by the growth of larger chains offering so-called lifestyle brands or imitating the success of the boutique sector, according to a group of hoteliers discussing the industry at the Boutique Hotel Summit.
The US-based Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian fusion restaurant chain Sushisamba is to open its first UK restaurant at London's Heron Tower this summer.
With London bracing itself for a bumper summer, packed full of once-in-a-lifetime events including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympics, the city’s hotel market is booming, with the highest occupancy base of all time for any host city of...
The number of restaurants led by big-name chefs in branded luxury hotels has grown significantly in recent years, and having this 'brand within a brand' can, at first glance offer significant advantages for both parties.
The majority of chain restaurants are refusing to, or are unable to give up discounting a new report has found with 64 per cent of the top 50 in the UK still offering vouchers to diners.
An array of top UK hoteliers have slammed ‘the total idleness of the British youth’, claiming it is ‘the elephant in the room’ for hotels and insisting that more must be done to get young people working in the industry.
The 10 in 8 Fine Dining Group, founded by Michelin-starred chef Alan Murchison and headed by Nina Basset, is teaming up with Macdonald Hotels & Resorts to open its sixth restaurant at the four-star Macdonald Bear Hotel in Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) is continuing to expand its boutique hotel brand Hotel Indigo with the signing of Hotel Indigo Cardiff, the first Hotel Indigo to open in Wales.
Maxxium UK, the global drinks giant behind Highland Park, Jim Beam and Courvoisier, has launched the first ever natural yoghurt liqueur to the UK market, developed by cocktail liqueur and spirits producer Lucas Bols.
Baa Bar, the North West bar chain which has just opened its 10th venue, has announced it is planning to expand the brand and open more sites in three new cities in 2012.
YTL Hotels, owned by the Malaysian-based conglomerate YTL Corporation Berhad, has received a £20m loan to fund its plans for a redevelopment of the Gainsborough Building in Bath and two other buildings into a five-star hotel and spa.
The upcoming Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations may provide a boost to hospitality businesses of a similar scale to the one enjoyed during the Royal Wedding last year but hotels may face a challenge to fill rooms, according to Priceaterhouse Coopers...
