Antic Limited unsecured creditors likely to receive 36p in each pound owed: Chantrey Vellacott, the administrator of 12-strong London pub operator Antic Limited, has estimated unsecured creditors of the company will receive around 36p in the pound they owed – the total sum owed is £2.6m, including a sum of £1.7m due to HMRC. Gregarious, a new company backed by investment company Downing acquired the legal right to trade the company’s 12 leasehold sites in February for £1.2m on a licence to occupy for six months – £900,000 payable at the time and £300,000 due at the start of this week. Downing has now been granted a three-month extension to its licence to occupy the sites as it continues talks with landlords to run the sites on a permanent basis. New leases on three sites have been agreed with Gregarious – with a fourth due to be signed today. However, three leasehold sites have been surrendered back to the administrator by Downing – Stapleton Tavern, Crouch End, Battersea Mess and Music Hall, Battersea and The King’s Head, Clapham Road. Earlier this week, Propel reported that Downing had closed Bohemia in North Finchley after failing to agree terms with its landlord, Mitchells & Butlers. The pub closed a day before its first birthday. Gregarious director Max Alderman said: “They have made it very difficult for us by asking for a very high deposit and asking for us to pay a bond for work on the building. They also wanted Gregarious to make up some of the money owed by Antic. But Gregarious are nothing to do with Antic.” The administrator also reported that the company held a lease on The Prince in Colliers Wood, which was sold to Pubola, a company of which Antic founder Anthony Thomas is a director, for £3,500 at the start of August. The company is also owed £811,000 by three related companies, in all of which Thomas is a director. The administrator’s bill to the end of July is £182,000.

Propel Multi Club Conference: The next Propel Multi Club Conference takes place on Thursday 7 November at One Moorgate Place in the City of London. Operators can claim up to two free delegate places by e-mailing jo.charity@propelinfo.com.

Women take one-third of non-executive jobs in UK top 350 companies: The Financial Times has reported that just under a third of all non-executive board (NED) seats of the UK’s top 350 companies went to women in 2012, and just under half of appointments of first-timers to boards were female. Networking is still important. 15% of first-timer NEDs got their jobs because they knew the chairman or another board member, said head-hunting firm Korn Ferry. Mark Reckitt, a non-executive director at pub group JD Wetherspoon, said the best way to get a job as a NED is to “network like mad”.

Tube-themed pop-up to appear at London Design Festival: As part of the London Design Festival, a “pop-up” bar will be created in the former post office sorting building on New Oxford Street. The beverages are being provided by the Camden Town Brewery, which will instal a micro-brewery on site and which has already produced a range of Metropolitan Line branded bottled beers.

SRA – diners care most abut health and nutrition of meals: Diners now care more about the health and nutrition of the meals they eat out and how restaurants are managing their food waste, than about the provenance of the food on their plate, according to new research for the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA). In a new report, “The Discerning Diner: How consumers’ attitudes to eating out have become more sophisticated”, based on the findings of consumer research and supported by Unilever Food Solutions, the SRA reveals that increasingly knowledgeable diners want to know more about how restaurants operate, and more than half will pay more for a meal in a restaurant that is run sustainably. Raymond Blanc, president of the SRA and chef patron of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, said: “This report provides further evidence that our customers not only want to enjoy high quality food, but also want to know that the restaurants they eat in are managing their business responsibly.”

Big Mac index shows UK minimum wage requires work for 23 minutes to buy a Big Mac: The Economist’s “Big Mac index”, a way of measuring relative prices in different countries after adjusting for the nominal exchange rate between different countries’ currencies, has shown it takes 23 minutes for UK workers to earn the money to buy a Big Mac. It takes 34 minutes of work to earn a Big Mac in the US, against 22 minutes in New Zealand and France and just 18 in Australia. A worker in India would have to work for almost six hours – 347 minutes – while Chinese workers must toil for 183 minutes, Brazilian workers clock up 172 minutes and Greek minimum wage earners put in 53 minutes.

 

Administrator – four out of five Powder Train pubs sold: Administrator Begbies Traynor has reported that four out of five pubs owned by Powder Train, the south east of England pub company linked to Marco Pierre White that went into administration in February, have been sold, with the most recent completing this week. A total of £2.83 million has been realised so far and “it is anticipated that final realisations will exceed the estimates to realise value of £3.28 million”. Royal Bank of Scotland has been paid £2.52 million of the money it is owed, with a further distribution of £1.13 million expected, leaving a shortfall of £643,000. A trading deficit of £15,000 occurred until the end of May 2013. A profit of £65,000 was expected but the administrator reported “unusually bad weather” and “website hosting ransom costs” as among the reasons for disappointing trading figures. The administrator earned £147,000 to 5 August. Agent Christie + Co has been selling Powder Train’s freehold pubs. The Anchor Inn, Warminster, Wiltshire remains to be sold.

Douglas Jack – shareholders should bank profits on Restaurant Group shares: Numis Securities leisure analyst Douglas Jack has advised taking profits ahead of The Restaurant Group’s first half results on Friday 30 August. He said: “This year, we expect growth to be stronger in H1 (with PBT up 15% to £30.0m) than H2 due to unfavourable warm weather in July/August as well as tougher LFL comps and increasing margin pressure as the year progresses. Given this, unsustainable restaurant supply growth and a valuation close to record levels, we would take profits. These results should emphasis expansion, consisting of c30 new restaurants this year. Unfortunately, such expansion is not unique: restaurant sector supply grew by an unsustainable 5.7% (a net 1,287 sites) in the year to March 2013. Such new supply should eventually lead to higher pricing pressure in leisure parks, compounded by Cineworld and Odeon (which is currently running price promotions with PizzaExpress) opening their own restaurants and incremental competition from pub operators.” Jack set a target price of 400p.

Lucky Onion turns listed building into ‘bar with rooms’: The team behind the Gloucestershire-based hospitality company Lucky Onion is turning a Grade II listed Regency building in the heart of Cheltenham into what it calls a “bar with rooms” rather than a hotel. When it opens in November, the building, at 131 The Promenade in Cheltenham, will house two bars, a restaurant, a wine room, private dining rooms, a games room and 11 bedrooms. The restaurant is likely to have the name Crazy Eights, after the card game of the same name. An orangery is being built at the rear of the building, which will provide a space for summer dining and a venue for large parties and weddings, while the forecourt overlooking Imperial Square will become a landscaped drinking and dining area. Sam Pearman, the founder of Lucky Onion with his wife Georgina, told the Gloucester Echo that he was designing a modern English menu for the restaurant. “We’ve got other operations that lean towards European cuisine, so this will offer something different,” he said. The venue’s style will be that of a “comfortable, informal English town house”, rather than a hotel, Pearman said. “We’ll have a serious amount of English furniture. A year’s worth of research has gone into it. There’s a lot of detail going on. There’s going to be some nice works of art.” Lucky Onion’s other properties include the Tavern in Cheltenham, The Wheatsheaf Inn boutique hotel in Northleach, between Cheltenham and Oxford ,and The Chequers in Churchill, near Chipping Norton. The Pearmans’ partner in the Crazy Eights venture is Julian Dunkerton, founder of the Superdry clothing chain. Dunkerton and the Pearmans are also involved in redeveloping Cheltenham’s Hotel on the Park, which closed in June after receivers were brought in earlier this year.

 

Lazy Cow chain threatens action over same-name rival: The Lazy Cow Group, the four-strong operator headed by Ross Sanders, is taking a restaurant in York to court over its use of the Lazy Cow name. The Lazy Cow Group says it trademarked the name in 2011, and the company’s marketing manager, Jessica Monahan, told the York Press that its legal team was launching a case against the York restaurant for breach of trademark. “We are a fine dining group and we don’t want any name association which suggests otherwise,” she said. “We are a growing business and it is a totally different brand.” The York Lazy Cow Steakhouse is based at the Waterfront Hotel, in King’s Staith, York, and changed its name only recently. The hotel told the York Press it was unaware that the name Lazy Cow was trademarked, and it had not yet received a letter from the Lazy Cow Group’s legal team. The Lazy Cow Group, formerly Urban and Country Leisure, has sites in Warwick, Salisbury, Solihull and Stratford upon Avon.

Aqua Italia plans fifth site in Portishead: Bristol restaurant group Aqua Italia is to open a new Portishead site and create 40 jobs after securing bank funding. The family-run business, which already has two sites in Bristol as well as sites in Bath and Milton Keynes, received funding from NatWest towards its new site. Aqua is also planning an outlet in the M4 corridor in the future. Founder Richard Smithson said: “When the site came up it was too good an opportunity to miss. Portishead offers us great potential as an up-and-coming area.”

Missoula launches cupcake and doughnut shot range: Stonegate Pub Company has launched a limited edition mini menu of sweet shot treats, based on cupcakes and doughnuts in its 12 Missoula bars. Seven new drinks grace the Missoula’s drinks menu, which will be available until November. The range includes a birthday cupcake, which contains vanilla and caramel vodkas, complete with rainbow sprinkles, whipped cream and a candle; a praline doughnut with almond liqueur, caramel vodka topped with chocolate sprinkles and, for those who like tradition with a twist, a jam doughnut with a sugar-topped rim. Rachael Khan from Missoula said: “The new cupcake and doughnut range introduces a few new fun drinks to our menu and gives our customers something a little different to try and taste. There is such a demand for cupcakes and doughnuts so we wanted find a way to cater for that trend. Of course, the new big thing is a cronut, a croissant-doughnut hybrid, so it will be a real test of our drink-making skills if we come up with a shot based on that particular patisserie!”

Stonegate applies to demolish structurally unsafe Barrow Yates’s: Stonegate Pub Company has applied to the local authority to demolish the structurally unsafe Yates’s in Barrow. A statement submitted to the council said: “All of the full four-storey facades, including partial side elevation and gables supported by the front elevation, require full demolition due to their structural failure. The costs to bring the building into use would vastly outweigh a return on investment and accordingly would be impractical to consider.” A spokeswoman for Yates’s said: “We are currently investigating all possibilities with regard to the future of the Yates building, following extensive investigation into the condition of the building. Our company policy when a business closes or moves is to relocate staff wherever possible which we aim to do in all circumstances.”

McDonald’s begins investigation after manager tells staff to lose weight: A McDonald’s manager is facing an investigation after telling staff to lose weight so they can fit into their work uniforms. The manager, who is unnamed but works at an Edinburgh branch, wrote an email to male workers criticising their “sloppy” appearance and insisting their top shirt buttons were fastened. He said there were two options: “Buy bigger shirts or lose some weight.” The email read: “If you need bigger shirts, please reply to this email with your size and I will be more than happy to arrange for bigger shirts to be ordered for you. If you don’t reply, I’ll assume your shirts fit you and there won’t be any need to have any more conversations about your appearance. Failure to meet McDonald’s appearance guidelines may result in disciplinary action being taken.” An investigation has been launched by McDonald’s, which said it did not condone the boss’s behaviour and found the email “inappropriate”.

Subway develops Spar partnership: Subway will be partnering with the Spar convenience store group Blakemore Retail to open a number of new outlets across the UK. The deal has already seen Subway’s third such store opened in conjunction with Blakemore in Newport, South Wales, at the end of July. In addition, there are currently six Subway stores in development at Blakemore Retail Spar sites across England and Wales, which will be open by the end the year, it said. Trevor Haynes, area development manager at Subway UK and Ireland, said: “We are delighted to be working with Blakemore Retail across its retail sector. It’s a great opportunity for the Subway brand to continue its expansion into key c-store locations and to offer customers calling in at Spar stores the choice of Subway subs, flatbreads and salads. We are seeing a great deal of demand for Subway stores within convenience stores and on forecourts at the moment. Due to their simple operations and minimal space and equipment requirements, our stores are uniquely suited to non-traditional sites.” Geoff Hallam, managing director at Blackmore Retail, said: “This partnership will allow two strong brands to work together for mutual benefit, and the introduction of a Subway store was a natural complement to our existing Spar c-store offer.”

Bank Top Brewery acquires second pub: Bolton-based Bank Top Brewery has acquired the Brown Cow, in Horwich, from Punch Taverns for an undisclosed sum. The venue is the second to be operated by Bank Top Brewery, after the acquisition in 2010 of the former Carters Arms, now call The Tap, also in Bolton. Bank Top Brewery is owned by Dave and Angela Sweeney and Neil and Caron Turner, who is also landlady of The Tap. It was founded in 1995 by John Feeney and was taken over in 2008 by Dave Sweeney, who is a former wrestling champion. The brewery has 20 staff and now turns over £1m a year, with the pub business approximately £500,000.

Goodfella’s refurbishes Bolton Bamboogy: Nightclub operator Goodfella’s is relaunching its Bamboogy outlet in Bolton at the August Bank Holiday weekend after a £150,000 refurbishment that includes the fitting of a “retro” disco dancefloor and mirror balls. Manager Kelly Marie Bannon, 28, told the Bolton News: “The downstairs area will be the big party zone with loads of mirrors, lights and a broad music policy appealing to a wide age-range of people. You might hear The Carpenters along with Robin Thicke, for example. The upstairs bar will focus more on dance music and R’n’B and be aimed at the slightly younger end of the market.” The upstairs bar operates, like others in the group, under the name Buddah Bar. Goodfella’s, founded by Nigel Blair in 2001, runs three other Bamboogy discos, in Oldham, Scunthorpe and Wigan.

Paragon Pub Company acquires third site: Paragon Pub Company is to invest £800,000 in a refurbishment of The Orange Tree pub in Trent Vale, Stoke, its third site. Director Richard Colclough said: “It is a listed building so we need to complement that in all our designs. What we are hoping to do is put a glass extension on to the right-hand side of the pub and extend the kitchen so we can provide a high standard of catering. It will still be somewhere you can go for a drink but there is a large restaurant element to the project.” The other sites in the group’s portfolio are The Swan with Two Necks, in Blackbrook, which it took over in 2007, and The Wayfarer, at Fillybrooks, near Stone, which was bought in 2011. Colclough said: “The other two pubs have a country feel with a modern twist. But this is going to be much sharper.” Before it became The Orange Tree the building was known as The Springfield Hotel.

Micro-pub opens in former Christian bookshop: Two former pub landlords from Nottingham have opened a micro-pub in the nearby town of Hucknall in premises that were previously a Christian bookshop. The Beer Shack, in Derbyshire Lane, Hucknall, has room for only 25 to 30 drinkers, and stocks only cask ales, cider, wine and soft drinks. James Mansfield, who opened the pub with his partner Julia Charlton, told the Hucknall Dispatch: “I firmly believe that micro-pubs are a thing of the future. Our aim is to provide a community feel where people can enjoy a chat and a bit of banter.” The pair previously ran The Moot pub in Nottingham.

Boutique B&B in Bath on the market for £2.5m: The Ayrlington, a boutique B&B business set in a Grade II Listed townhouse in Bath, is on the market for £2.5m. The 16-bedroom B&B was first built around 1860. Today The Ayrlington is an established business rated with five gold stars by the AA. Owned and operated since 1999 by Simon and Mee Ling Roper, The Ayrlington has been developed to incorporate an extension which includes a new commercial kitchen and additional owners’ accommodation. Its 16 letting bedrooms are individually themed and producing a net turnover of more than £500,000 and it has the potential to extend to 19 rooms. Jonathan Hill, director of hotels in Christie + Co’s Bristol office, is handling the sale. He said: “The Ayrlington has been lovingly operated and developed by the Ropers, with an emphasis on creating an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity. Their ongoing commitment to quality has brought some well-deserved and hard earned awards: five stars from the AA, AA Premier Collection and multiple garden awards.”

Robin Rowland – 2012 a watershed year for YO! Sushi: YO! Sushi’s chief executive, Robin Rowland, has shed more light on the company’s 2012 results, describing the period as a watershed year with the company selling five sites and reinvesting in two other key venues. The company saw flat Ebitda of £8 million, down £800,000, on turnover up 9% to £62,628,343. Pre-tax profit for YO Sushi UK was £2.19 million, down from £3.88 million the year before, with like-for-like sales flat. Rowland told Propel: “2012 was essentially a flat year in ebitda terms, but a watershed year. This year is proving one our best years for many years with good like-for-like sales and profit growth.” YO! Sushi sold five sites last year. Islington and Brindley Place, Birmingham were sold to Gourmet Burger Kitchen for a premium and Cote offered a premium to buy its Market Place site, near Oxford Circus. A site in Harrods in Knightsbridge, London closed after a sale triggered a redevelopment clause. A site in Manchester closed as a result of a Selfridges store development and YO! Sushi moved to the Arndale centre. Action was also taken in Lakeside, where YO! Sushi sold half of its trading area and reinvested in the remainder. Profit for the year was also affected by disruption at Heathrow Terminal 3, which is one of the company’s biggest profit drivers and was closed for seven weeks as a result of rebuilding working. It is now “trading fantastically”. Nine new restaurants were opened in Exeter, York, Windsor, Gatwick North, Waterloo Station, Guildford, Plymouth, Camden and Aberdeen. A total of £7.3 million was invested in 2013, up from £5 million the year before. A spokesman said: “Whilst recognising that the 2012 financial year was a tough year (for the company), it wasn’t that bad for the market. YO! is still generated a lot of cash funding our pipeline, our covenant is strong & trading is good – the company is very cash generative, with £7.9 million produced, £1.1 million down on the year before. We’ve seen strong and improving like-for-likes in the last two quarters.” The company has three more sites due to open in the Middle East before Christmas, and a second site opening in Oslo after the success of the first site there, franchised to SSP. Delays to the company’s second opening in Washington in the US, planned for Chinatown, are due to the franchisee “taking his time”. New sites in Chester and Cheltenham both open this month and openings for Kingston and Richmond in Surrey and Bromley in Kent are planned for November. YO! Sushi’s parent company reported a loss of £9.8 million after accrued interest, depreciation and amortisation.