Propel launches Craft Beer Retail Study Tour: Propel is launching its first Craft Beer Retail Study Tour sponsored by CPL Training, on Thursday 29 January 2015 in London. The tour, led by Thinking Drinkers, award-wining beer writers Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham, will visit seven of London’s leading craft beer retailers in an eight-hour tour. McFarland and Sandham will provide the latest craft beer fact and figures, market segmentation analysis, and spot up-and-coming trends. Site visits will include Q&A sessions with London’s leading retailers, looking at concept evolution, staff training, direct sourcing, menus, disposable kegs, hybrid models, brewing on site and a host of other issues. The day includes lunch and breakfast and travel between venues by coach. Tickets are £345 for ALMR members and £395 for non-ALMR members. Email adam.dickinson@propelinfo.com to book. Delegates also receive free tickets to see McFarland and Sandham perform their Legends of Liquor show at the Soho Theatre that evening starting at 7.30pm. Every audience member gets a ‘craft’ beer and four boutique spirits.

BBPA surveys shows five tenanted/leased pubs closing a week in year to September 2014: New research shows that recent pub closure figures in the leased/tenanted sector are five per week, much lower than previously thought, and show that statutory intervention that would damage the pub trade and risk a return to far higher closure rates is not needed, the British Beer and Pub Association has claimed. The figures, which cover the year to September 2014, were prepared from a survey of BBPA members operating nearly a third of all pubs and analysed by the leading economic analysis organisation Oxford Economics. While no analysis of the independent pub sector was undertaken, the figures correspond with a analysis of the Valuation Office Agency ratings database which suggests a closure rate of around 13 per week for the whole sector, based on the number of outlets classified as pubs in the database compared to a year ago. The BBPA's chief executive, Brigid Simmonds, said: “These figures reflect the increasing confidence we are now seeing in the pub sector, very much supported by government action on beer duty, business rates and other measures introduced. However, we are now facing very important legislation which could affect Britain’s pubs for decades to come, and it is vital this recovery is not put at risk. MPs who are being urged to take action that will slow the rate of pub closures need to be aware of these figures, and consider that the government’s own research shows that up to 1,400 pubs would close, with 7,000 job losses, if proposals being supported by some MPs to end the beer tie are passed into law via the Small Business Bill.”
 
UK’s five best independent fish and chips shops named: The UK’s five best fish and chip shops have been named in the Independent Fish and Chip Restaurant of the Year Awards 2015. They are: Cromars in St Andrews, Fife, Burton Road Chippy in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Fylde Fish Bar in Southport, Merseyside, Papa's Barn in Ditton, Kent and Simpsons Fish & Chips in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The restaurants will enter one final round of judging before 20 January 2015, when the overall national winner will be crowned.

Luke Johnson – ‘I’d like to see the UK out of Europe’: Sector investor Luke Johnson has declared that he would prefer that the UK leave Europe. However, he told the Financial Times: “We need to get together and force through change. More than any other political structure I know, [the EU] feels as if it has been put in place by a tiny number of elite Davos attendees who completely ignore the wishes of hundreds of millions of citizens right across Europe.”
 

Company News:

AMT Coffee returns to like-for-like growth in 2014: AMT Coffee, which operates coffee concessions at transport hubs and is owned by the McCallum-Toppin family, has reported that it has returned to like-for-like sales growth this year after closing its Belgian operations and loss-making sites in 2013. It also expects to be debt-free by the end of the year after reducing debt from £600,000 to £200,000 in 2013. The company saw turnover drop to £20.27m in the 53 weeks to 29 December 2013 from £22.9m the year before. It made a loss of £179,000, against a pre-tax profit of £757,000 in 2012, with a loss of £148.000 on the closure of a site. Like-for-likes sales were down 3%. Underlying Ebitda was £2m, down from £2.2m in 2012. AMT said: “The group reduced the size of its operations in this period. However, top-line revenue reductions are not anticipated to have an adverse affect on the underlying profitability of the business.” The company reported significant new site wins this year, including Newcastle train station, which started trading in July 2014. The highest paid director received remuneration of £510,754 (2012: £175,000). 

 
Tinseltown to open in Redditch: The family-run American diner and milk bar chain Tinseltown is to open its 11th outlet, in Redditch, Worcestershire. The 150-seat restaurant is due to open this month in the Hub area of the Kingfisher Centre. A company spokesman told the Redditch Standard: "We have spent a considerable amount of time in Redditch and around the Kingfisher Centre gathering statistics and we are really impressed with the scheme and town centre. Redditch has had a limited nightlife and coming into the Hub will add vibrancy and allow the people of Redditch to have entertainment and a choice of food to make an ideal night out without having to travel much further afield." Andrew Haughey, the Kingfisher Centre's retail asset manager, said the arrival was fantastic news. "We are constantly seeking to improve the retail experience for our customers and are looking forward to announcing more exciting new lettings in the near future," he said. Tinseltown opened its first restaurant in Farringdon, Central London in 1996 and now has eight outlets in and around the capital and others in Leicester and Birmingham. It runs a central kitchen, opened in 2009, and all the meat in its burgers is halal.
 
Administrator – Rileys Sports Bars sale could conclude in the next month or two: Deloitte the administrator of Rileys Sports Bars, has reported that a sale of the business could complete in the next month or two if it receives an acceptable bid. If no sales occurs, the administrator will “continue to trade the business in order to realise trading profits for the benefit of creditors”. An administrator’s report stated that the administration of the company occurred after it face a £1.5m funding requirement to meet HMRC and creditor liabilities after the warm summer an a disappointing World Cup saw the company fall “further behind forecast”.
 
Bukowski Grill wins licence for third outlet in Soho: Bukowski Grill, the fledgling charcoal grill burger restaurant chain that has investment from former Pizza Express chief executive David Page, has been granted a drinks licence for the new venue planned in D'Arblay Street, Soho, Central London. It will be Bukowski Grill's third outlet, following on from restaurants in Boxpark, Shoreditch and Brixton Market in London.

Abacus Inns to open Rita’s beer and cocktail club next month: Abacus Inns is to open Rita’s beer and cocktail club in a historic Belfast building next month. It will create another 20 new jobs at 44 Franklin Street, which also houses its Asian-inspired venue Shiro and the nightclub Chinawhite. Planning has recently been granted for the final phase of the overall project which will start in early 2015, a £350,000 investment in a fifth-floor rooftop garden which will accommodate 250 customers. The entire development, located at what is now being called the Linen Quarter, will create a total of 180 jobs. Paul Langsford, director of the group, said the project was one of the most significant investments in the night-time entertainment business in Belfast for some time. "Belfast has not seen a targeted regeneration of the night-time economy to this level for many years," he said. "Belfast's Linen Quarter, based on the south side of the city centre, has always had enormous potential and we believe that our development delivers a new hub for the night-life economy within Belfast city centre, with two bars and an internationally renowned nightclub."

Douglas Jack – Marston’s is returning to growth: Numis Securities leisure analyst Douglas Jack has issued a ‘Buy’ note on Marston’s shares, with a Price Target of 180p, ahead of full-year results on 27 November. He said: “We forecast PBT to be down 6% at £83.2m (consensus: £85.5m). This would equate to 10% underlying PBT growth in 2014E, after excluding 2013’s 53rd week (£3m) and the impact of disposals (£10m). We expect to hold our forecast of 12% PBT growth in 2015E, driven by new build expansion and aided by strong cost mitigation. The dilution from the sale of 202 tenanted pubs to New River Retail in November 2013 has almost annualised. Thus, earnings growth should resume in 2015E, for which we forecast 12% PBT growth (to £93.4m; consensus £93.8m) in addition to dividends that currently yield 5%. This is reflected in our ‘Buy’ recommendation.”
 
Enterprise reduces disposal programme, retains commercial property: Enterprise Inns has reported that its disposal programme has tapered down. The company said: “We have materially reduced the scale of our asset disposal programme as we no longer rely upon disposals to repay debt. During the year we generated £73m from the disposal of 230 properties, at an average value of £317,000, compared to £150m raised from the disposal of 428 properties in the prior year at an average value of £350,000. The reduction in average value achieved reflects the fact that the vast majority of these disposals are under-performing assets where the returns do not justify their retention. Our strategy is to optimise returns by re-investing disposal proceeds to drive like-for-like net income growth and enhance financial returns in our retained estate. Our disposal programme is expected to reduce in size again next year with proceeds for the year to 30 September 2015 expected to be in the region of £60m, of which up to £40m is expected from our Unique estate.” Chief executive Simon Townsend told Propel that the company is now retaining property let commercially to convenience stores, which, in the past, it sold. Enterprise currently has 22 sites let to convenience store operators. Of its nine managed pubs, Townsend said: “We are pleased so far and learning lessons as we go.”
 
Geof Collyer – flat profit before tax and EPS at Enterprise indicates a tipping point: Deutsche Bank's leisure analyst Geof Collyer has argued that all Enterprise’s key performance indicators are moving in the right direction after yesterday’s full-year results. Issuing a "buy" note, he said: “Headline results were slightly better than our estimates, despite fewer pubs trading and an extra £4m of central overhead (equivalent to more than 3% of reported profit before tax). Ebitda was £0.8m lower than our estimates, but was more than offset by £3.8m lower net interest. The current trading statement – which talks about sustainable net income growth – shows that the like-for-like net income growth has continued into Q1’15; we interpret this as the same rate as Q4’14, so up 0.5% (versus a comp of 0.5% growth). We are forecasting an increase of 0.8% like-for-like net income growth in FY’15 and a return to absolute Ebitda growth in the second half of 2015. With positive news on current trading, and EPS growth forecast for the financial year 2015, the shares should rally. Our 205p price target is 10x FY’15E P/E (the long-term average since IPO in November 1995, and compares to 6.4x today. All key performance indicators are moving in the right direction. Business failures fell again, by 16%. This was 3% better than DBE and represented 8.6% of the FY opening estate. It was also 50% fewer pubs than the FY’09 peak failure level. This remains the clearest sign for us of the continuing business turnaround. Average pubs trading were down 4.9%, but average sales were up 4% and average Ebitda/pub was up 1.1%. Pubs in Greater London (14% of the estate) saw like-for-like net income rise 4.4%, with 90% of the total estate generating 3.1%, implying that the bottom 10% were down 14%. Disposals were in line at £73m, with 230 bottom end pubs sold at an average/pub of £317k, some 9% higher than the average sale proceeds of the bottom end disposals in FY’13. The group has taken a 1.9% asset write-down (small beer in the context of the more than 50% discount to NAV that the group is trading on). However, helped by the disposals, average values for the retained estate are up 1.0%, in line with average Ebitda growth."
 
Liverpool nightclubs saved after developer changes tack: Nightclubs in and around Wolstenholme Square in Liverpool threatened by redevelopment of the area have been saved at the 11th hour at a meeting that would have signalled their end. A more secure future for Wolstenholme Square looks assured for the music venues the Kazimier and Nation, home of the superclub Cream after talks involving local councillors, club owners, freeholders and developers, have led to a surprising resolution. Instead of Georgian houses between the square and Duke Street being turned into long-term occupancy flats, the developer has now agreed that they will become serviced apartments. Planning officers at the council say this will remove a proposed condition requiring all the clubs in the square being closed down before people are allowed to move into the flats.

New champagne bar brand opens in Worcester: A new champagne and cocktail bar brand has opened in Reindeer Court, Worcester. Alexanders has a capacity of 600 and a licence to 3am, creating 20 jobs in Worcester. The venue is the brainchild of Worcester born-and-bred Alexander Fell, who has worked in premium hospitality for a number of years and has spent the past two years planning and implementing his vision for the new bar. He said: "We saw a gap in the market for a premium venue focusing on customer service, exciting events and world class brands and are really excited to bring this vision to fruition."
 
Spirit to convert Waltham Forest pub to new Golden Oak Inn format: Spirit Pub Company is to convert the Larkshall pub in Chingford to its new Golden Oak Inn brand, one of 20 in the London area being converted. On 1 December, the pub will close its doors to the public as workmen start the £250,000 renovation. The Waltham Forest heritage site, which dates back to 1890 is Chingford’s oldest surviving pub-converted farmhouse and still contains timber frames dating back to the late 16th century. A bar area by the entrance will be knocked out to provide an open-plan seating and dining area and the Larkshall's traditional green and cream colour scheme will be replaced by shades of grey, cream and ivory. The children’s play area will remain but its current patio-style beer garden will be swapped with concrete slabs to provide extra seating and more opportunities for outdoor events. The new-look pub, offering better quality food and drink, will open on 12 December. Last month, Spirit chief executive Mike Tye said the company has seen “terrific returns to date” on its first seven Golden Oak Inns, slightly smaller pubs than suit its Flaming Grill brand but with a good quality demographics. He cited the example of two Golden Oaks, in Lymm, Cheshire, a 1,800 sq ft site now produced £18,000 a week of sales from a previous figure of £12,800 a week, and Solihull, a 1,500 sq ft site now producing £12,800 a week of sales from a previous figure of £7,800 a week, which were producing a £5,000 a week sales uplift on an investment of around £200,000. Tye said that Golden Oak was an “outstanding concept – not a gastro-pub but a high quality local”.

Micro-pub measuring 99 sq ft opens in Chorley: A micro-pub measuring just 11ft by 9ft has opened in the covered market in Chorley, Lancashire. The Bob Inn is run by husband and wife team Steve and Jill Cooney and sells real ales and cider on draft along with imported lager and unusual bottled beer. The Bob Inn is open six days a week from 10am until 6pm, excluding Sundays, and when opened out the capacity to accommodate up to 50 customers. Steve Cooney said: “My wife and I are really excited for this new venture and we have had fantastic feedback from residents and customers so far, with everybody being extremely friendly and interested in finding out more about the pub.”

Luminar scoops Best Bar None awards: The nightclub operator Luminar Group is celebrating success in regional Best Bar None Awards up and down the country, including four clubs picking up Overall Winner awards. The most recent win was for Liquid in Wrexham, which won the Best Club, Gold Standard and Overall Winner. Liquid in Ipswich also won Best Club, Best Town Centre Venue and Best Door Team. Chief executive Peter Marks said: “Nightclubs have come a long way since the 1980s and being responsible is at the core of the way we operate our businesses. We are active supporters of Best Bar None, because it sets the standard for the industry; it’s reassuring for our customers and helps our general managers to deliver the best experiences possible.” Luminar’s two clubs in Kingston have picked up awards, with Pryzm recently taking Best Club, followed by The Hippodrome as runner up, which also picked up Best Member of Staff. This was crowned by the team at Liquid in Oldham which picked up four awards; Best in Category, Most Improved Premises and Overall Best Bar None Winner, while general manager Terry Bruce was recognised with a special achievement award for committing to develop Oldham’s Pub Watch scheme. Marks said: "Our management teams have really got behind Best Bar None and it’s paying dividends for Luminar with the company being recognised across the board.”

Simmons to open fourth site this Thursday: The Simmons bar group is to open in Fitzrovia, Central London this Thursday (20 November), occupying the former Potion Bar site in Maple Street, W1. The brand has secured a new 25-year lease on a guide rent of £100,000 a year. Agent AG&G acted for the landlord, Wellington Pub Company. It will be the largest Simmons venue to date, and includes a covered and heated outdoor drinking space and a 100-capacity function room. As well as Simmons sites in Kings Cross and Camden, North London, the company also operates the Chelsea Pensioner on the Fulham Road in South West London, offering craft beer and flatbread pizza.
 
Iso Sushi opens Wolverhampton's first sushi restaurant: Wolverhampton's first sushi restaurant opened this week, making the fourth outlet for the Iso Sushi chain. It has converted the former Rumbles takeaway outlet on Tettenhall Road, Chapel Ash. Director Yusuf Ahmed, 22, said Iso Sushi would provide a style of food that restaurant goers in the city had been calling out for: "In the build-up to opening we had a lot of interest from people wanting to able to get good quality sushi in the city. Sushi is often considered a high-end food, but it is becoming increasingly popular in the UK. In the past people from Wolverhampton would have to go to Birmingham to eat it. Now we are providing the best sushi made by highly experienced chefs right in the heart of the city. Opening up in Wolverhampton was a very important step for us. Now we want to keep growing and become as big as other sushi restaurants that have tasted success in this country." Takeaway is also available. Iso Sushi is due to open another restaurant in Mattock Lane, Ealing Broadway, West London later this year.

Cafe Rouge manager wins recognition at UK’s best: Cafe Rouge manager Alper Zan, who oversees the Cheshire Oaks branch, has been named the Academy of Food & Wine Service’s UK Restaurant Manager of the Year 2014. Amie Duncan of the Butchershop Bar & Grill, Glasgow, was runner-up, with Ian Sturrock of the Arts Club, in Dover Street, Mayfair, Central London, in third place. The winner receives a week at the world’s top hospitality management school, Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne in Switzerland, sponsored by the Savoy Educational Trust. Duncan was awarded the Virgin Rising Star Award, for which she receives a stage at the Roof Gardens, a certificate and a bottle of champagne. Six managers made it to through to this year’s final, having undergone interviews by the judges on their business acumen, management ability and food, wine and service knowledge. The final stage of the competition involved, for the first time, members of the judging panel visiting the finalists in their own establishments to look at service standards and training. Peter Avis, manager of the Babylon Restaurant at the Roof Gardens in Kensington, West London, and a former winner of the award, who chaired the panel of judges, said: “I am delighted we’ve got such a worthy winner. Alper Zan demonstrates real commitment, a sound knowledge of food and wine and customer service as well as the ability to manage his team. He is a true professional in a role that demands a wide range of skills from food and wine knowledge to business acumen.”
 
Pret A Manger chooses Logic Group payments solution: The Logic Group, the payments, insights and loyalty specialist, has announced that Pret A Manger has chosen its Solve Centurion Managed Service platform for q payments in its European stores. The company will be able to support the latest contactless payment cards, reducing queuing times and improving the overall customer experience, Logic Group said. Andy Chalkin, group director of IT at Pret A Manger, said: “Our commitment to quick and friendly service, coupled with the quality of our products, is why our customers come back time and time again. We were looking for a partner that shared this outlook and could provide us with a reliable payment platform which our staff could rely on and our customers can trust. I am pleased to say that the service is running better than hoped, with calls to our helpdesk noticeably reducing as it was implemented. In particular, the ability to manage transactions when there are problems with the store network has been a real benefit, providing a seamless customer and staff experience.”
 
Fuel Station opens pop-up to showcase 'fitness-based' restaurant: The health and fitness food brand Fuel Station opens a pop-up in Liverpool today (Wednesday) to advertise its offering before a planned restaurant opening in the city centre. Fuel Station supplies clients with a range of meals, snacks and shakes, including "delivered diets" to help people lose weight and/or stay fit, which cost from £100 a week. Fuel Station director Kurt Wilson, a former Apprentice contender, who will open the restaurant with his brother Jay, said: “We were the first to bring a health-based juice and shake business to Liverpool, which had a huge response. The natural next step for us is to open Liverpool’s first fitness-based restaurant, where we will serve dishes like healthy burgers at lunch, which will be served fresh and quick to our fast moving but ever growing health conscious society. The pop-up will also give us a chance to show what will be offered on our new ‘delivered diet’ launching December 1, which a number of high profile people including celebrities and sports stars have already pre-ordered.” The pop-up is operating at a building in Button Street, in the city centre, which will also be the location for the new restaurant. Dave Critchley, head chef at London Carriage Works in Hope Street, Liverpool, has been appointed to oversee a new menu range.
 
Coal Grill and Bar opens ninth site: Coal Grill and Bar has opened its ninth restaurant in the new £250m Southwater Telford. It is opposite the development’s cinema and has views of the lake and parkland from the restaurant terrace. More than £700,000 has been invested in the restaurant which will comfortably serve more than 100 covers. John Gater, chief executive and founder of Coal Grill and Bar said: “Southwater, Telford is the perfect development for the Coal brand. Its combination of a busy shopping mall, entertainment and dining quarter is ideal for us as a brand and what we ultimately look for when choosing a location.” The restaurant group, backed by Beringea and Octopus, is on track to achieve its next stage in restaurant roll outs. Gater said: “The new restaurant in Telford brings the group to trading comfortably at nine restaurants. We have a further six openings planned to open in 2015 and sites in mind for 2016 and beyond.”
 
Better burger brand Hache celebrates tenth birthday and prepares for rapid roll-out: Hache, the upscale London burger restaurant, embarked on a month of celebrations this week to mark the company’s tenth anniversary. The business is poised to begin a roll-out which could see its four existing restaurants joined by a further 20 before the end of 2018. Work has already begun on a fifth site, in Balham, South London due to be completed late 2014. To celebrate the tenth anniversary, co-founders Berry and Suzie Casey have planned a range of activities. Berry said: “This milestone is a wonderful time to thank the people who’ve helped us to get where we are today. We’re going to be running a number of promotions aimed at existing customers, including the chance to win a trip to New York City. The anniversary is also a great opportunity for us to reach out to a new generation of burger lovers, and introduce them to our unique offer. For them, we’ve created the new ‘Hache Burger’, which sums up the brand on a plate, thanks to its imaginative combination of flavours and superb ingredients that are second to none.”
 
Batemans predicts record-breaking sales for 'iconic' Rosey Nosey beer: The Lincolnshire-based family brewer Batemans is expecting its best season yet for its festive ale Rosey Nosey, with bottle sales to supermarkets in particular already showing considerable growth. Last year, sales of Rosey Nosey grew by 13% compared to 2012, while orders from supermarkets increase by a staggering 50%. Since 2009, the beer’s sales have grown by 22.9% a year, with more than double the amount sold in 2013 as there was in 2009. For 2014, Batemans is aiming to increase total orders of both cask and bottle, with export sales expected to be a key contributor. Although the beer, only available by cask for less than a week, Batemans is already seeing extremely high demand for Rosey Nosey. Demonstrating the worldwide appeal of the seasonal beer, Batemans has shipped 120 barrels (the equivalent of 4,900 cases) of Rosey Nosey to US air force bases across the globe, including Korea, Okinawa, Japan and Europe. Batemans brewed a 6% ABV version of Rosey Nosey exclusively for these soldiers, who wanted to enjoy a festive treat while away from home. Jaclyn Bateman, marketing director at Batemans, said: “We’ve been brewing Rosey Nosey since 2000, and its sales have grown healthily every year, with 2014 set to be a record year. We’ve seen an increased interest from supermarkets looking to offer their customers a festive beer with British roots, with Morrisons placing regular large orders. Rosey Nosey is one of the most popular festive beers on the market, and has achieved an iconic status among our customers, with many saying it doesn’t feel like Christmas until they’ve enjoyed their first pint of the ale.”
 
Bolton TV cook to mount pop-ups in partnership with US counterpart: The Bolton TV cook Debbie Halls Evans is teaming up with the American winner of The Taste to create pop-up restaurants across the globe, including one in Bolton. Evans, who won the UK version of the Channel 4 cookery show, has just returned from the United States after teaming up with Louise Leonard to launch the restaurants in Los Angeles and New York. The pair, who will go under the name Cross Pond Sessions, plan to do the same next spring, but this time in the UK, with dates in Bolton, Manchester, London and Edinburgh. Evans said: "Louise and I got on like a house on fire despite only meeting for the first time when I went over to the States. She's just like me in that she loves food, and her knowledge of cooking is amazing.

Second big win for pizza supplier: The Glasgow-based food company Eat Balanced, which recently won a listing to supply its Pizza Power Kids cheese and tomato pizza to 400 Spirit Pub Company outlets in England, has been listed by Brakes, the foodservice wholesaler. Brakes will now supply the Pizza Power Kids pizza to thousands of catering outlets across Scotland. Alan Halliday, divisional director for Brakes Scotland, said: "We believe that it's a great innovation that supports children eating healthily and well, while choosing one of their favourite meals. This is a great addition to the products Brakes sell and it will help our customers who are always looking for ways to keep their children's menus well balanced and exciting."

Papa John's to take over Redditch site closed for six years: The pizza chain Papa John's is to take over part of a former Chinese restaurant in Redditch, Worcestershire that has been closed since a fire in November 2008. Residents, councillors and neighbouring businesses have been making regular complaints about the current hoarding around the building damaging the appearance of Church Green, which is a conservation area. Now Papa John’s is to take part of the restaurant, creating 20 new jobs, with another food operator in talks about taking over the remaining space, which could generate another ten positions. The deal was almost sunk at the 11th hour after a wrangle over the fascia above the shop front, which planners on Redditch Council wanted reduced even though owner Affy Qadeer argued it would cost up to £10,000 and also cause structural problems. A council spokeswoman said that after a meeting a new proposal had been tabled which was cheaper to implement but was still good design from a conservation perspective. She said the amended plans would be subject to public scrutiny for three weeks and unless objections were raised they would be approved by early December.