Greene King boss renews call for Minimum Unit Pricing: Greene King chief executive Rooney Anand has renewed his call for the introduction of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) to curb alcohol abuse. In an opinion piece published this morning in t … view

Meantime Brewery opens fourth Greenwich outlet as it boosts production in £6.4m expansion: Meantime Brewery has opened its fourth outlet in its home patch of Greenwich, south east London, a 100-capacity bar at its brewery called the Tast … view

Mitchells & Butlers reports like-for-likes up 1.7%: Mitchells & Butlers has reported like-for-like sales up 1.7% in the 17 weeks ending 24 January. Year to date sales have increased by 9.1%. The company stated: “The festive period saw a … view

English executive Steve Easterbrook takes top job at McDonald’s: McDonald’s global marketing boss Steve Easterbrook, who is English and ran McDonald’s in the UK, will be the next president and chief executive of McDonald’s, replac … view

Welcome Break reports record Christmas trading: Welcome Break, the motorway services operator, has announced record festive trading, boosted by its branded foodservice offer. In the three weeks to 6 January 2015, sales across Welcome Bre … view

Marston’s reports strong festive trading: Marston’s has reported strong festive trading ahead of its AGM at noon today. The company said that for the 16-week period to 24 January performance has been ‘encouraging, including good tra … view

Whitbread secures prime off-market hub double in Westminster for £80m: Whitbread has acquired two sites for its new hub by Premier Inn format, on Tothill and Dacre Street in Westminster, for circa £80m in two off-market deals. The site … view

 

Starbucks reports global like-for-likes up 5%, record profitability in Europe: Starbucks has reported a global 5% increase in like-for-like sales in its First Quarter, the 13 weeks to 28 December. In Europe, like-for-likes were up 4%, dri … view

Yummy Pub Company reports ‘phenomenal trading’ at coffee operation, eyes two more sites: Yummy Pub Company has reported ‘phenomenal trading’ at its Southwark coffee shop operation, The Gentlemen Baristas, opened in partnership wit … view

Tim Martin – we’re bidding record amounts for Irish sites: JD Wetherspoon founder Tim Martin has told Propel that the company is bidding record amounts for Irish pub sites. Martin reported that the company has twice bid seven million … view

JDW reports slowing LfLs, Tim Martin questions out-of-town investment: JD Wetherspoon has reported that like-for-like sales slow to circa 2% in December and have slowed further since. For the first 12 weeks of the second quarter (to 18 Ja … view

Starbucks launches wireless charging at ten London stores: Starbucks is launching Powermat wireless charging zones in ten central London Starbucks stores, claiming to be “the first on the high street to offer this technology”. Custom … view

G1 Group repays £411,000 of training cash after irregularities: G1 Group, Scotland’s largest independent managed operator led by Stefan King, has admitted financial irregularities in respect of public money claimed for training and rep … view

Eagle Eye reports revenue growth: Eagle Eye, the provider of digital consumer engagement solutions to the retail and hospitality industries, has reported sales grew 276% to £2.3m (H1 2014: £600,000) in the six months to 31 December 2014 … view

Matthew Clark reports record Christmas with £100m plus of sales: Wholesaler Matthew Clark is celebrating a bumper Christmas, which saw December sales break £100m, marking its most successful month ever, bolstered by strong performances … view

Draft House secures seventh site, opens next month: London craft beer business Draft House, led by Charlie McVeigh and backed by sector investor Luke Johnson, has acquired a seventh site, The Laurie Arms on Shepherds Bush Road, which will … view

Greene King reports like-for-likes up 2% over Christmas and New Year: Greene King has reported like-for-likes up 2% over Christmas and New Year and up 0.6% for the 36 weeks to 11 January 2015. Pub Partners like-for-like net income is up 2 … view

Active Private Equity takes Honest Burgers stake: Private equity firm Active, which has investments in Leon and the Evans cycle shop business, has taken a 50% stake in better burger chain Honest Burgers. A total of around £7m is thought … view

Oakman Inns reports ‘transformational’ year, set for exponential growth: Oakman Inns and Restaurants, led by Peter Borg-Neal, has reported a ‘transformational year’ to 6 April 2014 in which turnover grew 21% to £10,861,993 from � … view

 

The turn of the yea … view

Begbies Traynor – supermarket price war could send more than 100 food suppliers bust: While most of the UK’s largest supermarkets reported stronger than expected food sales over the festive period, their ongoing and brutal price war i … view

Stonegate ‘new generation’ student pub proving to have broader appeal: Stonegate Pub Company’s ‘new generation’ student pub, aimed at evolving the former Mitchells & Butlers ‘It’s A Scream’ student brand, is proving to hav … view

HSBC pays Ossett Brewing Pub Company loan redress: Ossett Brewing Pub Company, led by Jamie Lawson and Mike Inman, has reported that it received cash payments of £590,861 from HSBC last year by way of loan redress. The annual accounts do … view

Coffer Peach – Christmas like-for-likes up 2.8%, restaurant chains up 4.7%: Pub and restaurant groups had a Christmas season to celebrate with collective like-for-like sales up 2.8% on the same period last year. Latest figures from the … view

Just Eat – orders up by 50% on a like-for-like basis in 2014: Just Eat, the online and mobile marketplace for takeaway food, has reported that the strong momentum reported during the year has continued for the year ended 31 December “ … view

Crowdcube raised £35.9m in 2014 – and grew investor community by 57,000 members: Crowdfunding platform Crowdcube has reported it helped 105 businesses raise £35.9 million in funding in 2014. This represents a 246% increase compared to … view

JD Wetherspoon applies for first stand-alone hotel next door to its proposed pub in Huntingdon: JD Wetherspoon has submitted plans to create a 22-bedroom hotel next door to a proposed pub in Huntingdon – the first time it has ever appli … view

Horizons – eating out sales to grow by 2% this year: Trading through the eating out sector is likely to improve further this year, although it’s still a long way off peak 2008 levels, according to foodservice consultancy Horizons. The … view

Losses reduce at Corbin & King: Losses have dropped at high-profile London restaurant operators Corbin & King, who are backed by private equity firm Graphite Capital. Turnover rose 23.8% to £35,401,901 in the year ended 30 March 2014. Th … view

 

Restaurant Group reports LfLs up 5% over two-week Xmas period: The Restaurant Group has reported like-for-like sales grew 5% over the two week holiday period to 4 January 2015. For the 52 weeks ending 28 December, total turnover was up 9. … view

Ex-Leon staffers seeks £2m to expand Pint Shop: Pint Shop, the award-winning Cambridge-based concept specialising in British meat and beer, is seeking £2 million investment from leading hospitality figures as it looks to expand to a sec … view

Be At One reports 15% like-for-like growth in December: Cocktail bar group Be At One, which is backed by Piper Private Equity, has reported an increase of 15% in like-for-like sales in the five weeks of December. Group sales for the compa … view

Red’s True makes key hires: Red’s True Barbecue has appointed Matt Snell as operations director and Craig Bell as finance director. Snell, 36, joins from Fuller’s where he is currently head of operations for the quality division, ov … view

Sainsbury’s – food deflation likely to continue in 2015: Sainsbury’s has reported like-for-like sales dropped 1.7% in the 14 weeks to 3 January 2015. The company has predicted further food deflation in 2015 as it drops prices on 1,0 … view

C&C Group drops bid for Spirit Pub Company: Magners producer C&C Group has announced that it does not intend to proceed with an offer for Spirit Pub Company as a combination with Spirit “no longer meets the Group’s risk adjusted retur … view

Arkell’s reports turnover and profit boost: Swindon-based brewer and retailer Arkell’s has reported turnover grew by 6.4% to £19.861m in the year ended 31 March 2014. Profit before tax rose by 2.9% to £1.935m, including an exception … view

Loungers reports record monthly sales of more than £5m: Loungers, the Piper Private Equity backed all-day café and bar group, has reported record sales in the month of December as net sales for the calendar month exceeded £5m. The grou … view

Britons take 17 days to fall off the wagon in January: Britons who go teetotal for January fall off the wagon after an average of just 17 days, according to new research. Most people who pledge to stay dry for a month in new year resolut … view

Nick Collins becomes Loungers managing director, Alex Reilley takes executive vice-chairman role: Loungers, the Bristol based all-day cafe/bar operator, has appointed Nick Collins as managing director. The appointment will see current ma … view

Wasabi breaches covenants in “unprecedented period of change”: Wasabi, which operates 37 sushi and bento outlets in central London, has reported breaching “several banking covenants” in 2013 as it underwent an unprecedented period … view