The Chancellor George Osborne's decision to refuse to budge on the controversial beer duty escalator in the Budget has been widely criticised by the pub and bar sector as a missed opportunity to reverse a policy that continues to lead to job losses...
With up to 30,000 people departing from Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 3 every day, established food concepts and emerging brands are increasingly recognising the potential of such high-footfall transport hubs.
Whole-animal butchery, nose-to-tail cookery and more thoughtful meat use are all crucial in ensuring sustainability in food production and to help the environment, according to Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming.
The Government has announced the National Minimum Wage (NMW) will rise for adults and apprentices but will be frozen for 16-20 year-olds in a move that the hospitality careers charity Springboard described as disappointing.
Hospitality licensees considering applying for future Temporary Event Notices (TENs) for events including those during the London 2012 Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations have been advised to apply now before the system becomes more restrictive...
Voucher website Groupon has been forced to change some of its trading practices and how it interacts with merchants and businesses after an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading found 'widespread' examples of breached consumer regulations.
Hotel prices in the capital rose again this month with an average overnight stay in a London hotel costing £144 in March, up 5 per cent from a year ago, while hotels in Glasgow, Manchester and Brighton also defied the trend of falling prices in the provinces.
Spirit Pub Company has announced trading remains on track to meet the company expectations for the financial year with like-for-like sales across its managed estate up 4.6 per cent in the 12 weeks to 3 March 2012 with food sales becoming more important...
Women in hospitality are now more present at senior level but remain under-represented in the boardroom and more needs to be done to rectify this and encourage senior female managers to reach for directorships, according to global executive search company...
Of all the drinks categories, wine is the most traditional match to food. Wine lists are given out readily with food menus in the vast majority of restaurants and most diners will expect to see one at least integrated into the food menu if not given to...
Pub licensees should not be content to see their pubs turning a profit in six months but aim to make money sooner, according to Alastair Scott, pub consultant and founder of Malvern Inns and former operations director at Mitchells & Butlers (M&B).
Marston's, the pub operator and brewer, has reported a like-for-like sales increase in the 23 weeks to 10 March of 3.5 per cent and has declared its trading performance remains 'resilient' despite weaker conditions since the new year which...
Minimum alcohol pricing which stops retailers selling drinks for less than the tax paid comes into force this year but reports now suggest the Government is looking to go further and may support a minimum per unit price; but what would the impact be on...
Going out for meals and drinks has been revealed by VisitEngland to be the second most popular reason for day trips in the UK with 250 million trips in 2011 helping to boost the worth of the day visit economy to £54bn.
Hotel bookings in Glasgow have increased by 200 per cent in the past four years, second only to London in the most popular list of shopping destination cities.
Hotel room rates in the UK fell by an average of 1 per cent to £82 in 2011 as hoteliers strove to fill rooms by discounting and refused to pass on the 2.5 per cent VAT increase to guests.
A UK benchmark into energy use in hotels is overdue as the results of the last similar study nearly two decades ago are now out of date, according to the managing director of hospitality energy consultants Hotel Energy.
JD Wetherspoon has revealed a rise in like-for-like sales of 2.1 per cent in the 26 weeks to 22 January 2012 but announced it is scaling back its planned pub openings for the financial year and remains cautious about future performance.
When it comes to maximising drinks sales, beer has always stood in the shadow of higher GP wine and there has been little faith that diners would ever choose grape over grain. But, with a rise in the popularity of craft beers and a continuing surge in...
The Government should encourage people to return to pubs and bars to drink if it is to control night-time violence caused as a result of alcohol, according to new research from the Institute for Health and Community at Plymouth University.
McCain Foodservice is giving chefs who are proud of the hand cut chips they make for their menus to pitch them against their own Gastro Chips range to see how they compare in terms of taste, appearance and operational efficiency.
A number of high-profile closures across the capital in recent months could be the first signs that London is no longer the recession-free zone many have considered it to be.
Volume sales of wine at restaurants, hotels and pubs fell 6 per cent in 2011, according to the latest Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) Market Report with spirit sales down slightly less at 2 per cent.
A survey of UK consumers has found that restaurant service remains a more important factor than food pricing to drive whether diners make recommendations to friends and family or leave a restaurant early.
The intense competition for prime city-centre restaurant sites is spreading rapidly into shopping centres across the UK, as landlords, established food concepts and emerging brands are increasingly recognising the potential of such high-footfall locations.
Rapidly-expanding gourmet burger chain Byron has been hailed as the fastest growing restaurant concept of the past six months having more than trebled its portfolio in the past three years.
MWB Group, the owner of boutique hotel chains Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, has successfully reduced its debt to £180m in just six months, with total revenue rising by nine per cent and occupancy and room rates holding firm.
A decade of Government investment in the local brewing sector has produced an industry that is ‘thriving’, although the future remains threatened by ‘punitive’ levels of beer taxation, according to the Local Beer Report 2012 published today by the Society...
After suffering a period of decline in Q4 2011, London hoteliers are back to their best in the first month of 2012, recording a seven per cent increase in profit per room and a 2.5 per cent rise in RevPAR.
Restaurants and pubs across the UK may need to consider revising their menus due to the continuing spread of the Schmallenberg virus, which could dramatically reduce supplies of lamb and increase its costs.
Publicans have been warned by a leading sports lawyer not to misread the victory of Portsmouth landlady Karen Murphy in the High Court as an acceptance of the legality of showing Premier League matches without a valid UK subscription service.
The consumer reviews website Qype has removed over two thousand ‘fake’ posts in the last month, just weeks after an Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ban on TripAdvisor from suggesting its reviews were ‘honest, real or trusted’.
2012 is set to be a record year for occupancy in London hotels but the situation after the Olympics will remain difficult although hotels in the regions may benefit in 2013, according to latest forecasts from Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC).
International hotel operator Accor has revealed the group consumes more than 18bn kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy, ahead of a spring publication of a new sustainable development strategy for the company.
Hotel prices have dropped across every city in the UK apart from London, which is one of only seven major cities in Europe to have seen an increase in room rates for February.
Stephen Kyjak-Lane, general manager of the Lancaster London hotel and the new chairman of the London advisory board of hospitality careers charity Springboard, has said a Government minister for hospitality is needed to promote the industry to jobseekers...
Pub company Admiral Taverns is to freeze the prices of a broad selection of its draught beers in an attempt to hit back at imminent increases in the amount of duty levied against alcohol sold in pubs and bars.
The Prime Minister has called for more action from the drinks industry and pubs on binge drinking in a speech ahead of the publication of the Alcohol Strategy which may suggest some form of higher minimum alcohol pricing.
InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) has announced global operating profits of over $550m in 2011, representing annual growth of 26 per cent, while revenue per available room (RevPAR) also rose despite a fall in the last quarter of the year in the UK and...
Traditionally a quiet month for the hospitality industry, January is the time when many businesses plan for the year ahead or recover after the busy festive season, but evidence has shown that many restaurants and pubs have been experiencing an unusual...
The number of insolvencies among the UK restaurant sector has jumped by 31 per cent to 194 in the last financial quarter of 2011 – the highest rate for over three years.
Two surveys have revealed the way to the hearts of Valentine's Day diners could be Italian or French cuisine or a special offer with 55 per cent of Britons planning to take advantage of money saving deals when they treat their loved one this year.
Britain’s tourism and hospitality businesses are surfing on the wave of a record-breaking 2011 for overseas visitors and spending, making perfect preparation for a bumper 2012, packed full of iconic, once-in-a-lifetime events.
Enterprise Inns has announced the appointment of Robert Walker as chairman and released its interim management statement ahead of an AGM with figures revealing a slight boost in trade as like-for-like income per pub rose by 1 per cent in the 18 weeks...
Half of new publicans and nightclub owners admit they are ‘struggling’ because they don’t know where to go for specialist advice and guidance or setting up and running their own business.
Pubs planning to show the 2012 Olympics or European football championships on TV in their venue over the summer have been warned most sports fans intend to vist the pub less and publicans need to bear in mind the size of their screen and drinks prices...
The number of hospitality businesses falling into administration increased by 19.3 per cent in 2011, indicating that the sector was one of the worst hit by the economic crisis.
With two major events happening in Britain this year - the Olympics and the Queen's Jubilee, food trends agency The foodpeople is predicting a rise in demand for classic British dishes on menus in 2012.
