Operator – Sky price freeze disingenuous: A leading bar operator, who asked to remain anonymous but has a six-figure annual Sky subscription, has described yesterday’s announcement of a price freeze for next season as “disingenuous”. The operator told Propel: “Sky seems to have ignored the fact that it has lost the rights to broadcast the Champions League. The Champions League is very big business for pubs – to state that this is a price freeze is completely disingenuous.” Alison Dolan, Sky Business deputy managing director, said: “Sky has more of the matches that matter to pubs and clubs, including the biggest Premier League and Championship matches in prime viewing slots. We know that domestic football is the biggest driver of pub footfall and we have more than 200 matches per year featuring British teams, across four days of the week. Having signed 25 deals in 2014 alone, we are continually adding to and extending our rights portfolio, investing in our unrivalled customer support, while holding prices for the fourth time in five years. Our pricing is based on the total value of our portfolio of content, which includes rights, production and talent.”
 
Jamie Oliver launches Family Food Tube: Jamie Oliver is looking to repeat the success of his Food Tube and Drinks Tube video channels with the launch of Family Food Tube. His latest YouTube initiative is geared toward offering parents advice on serving up nutritious food for their children, communicated in the form of recipes, videos and tips from Jamie and his wife Jools Oliver. The couple will be helped out by regular contributors including the child nutrition specialist Dr Helen Crawley and the Italian chef Gennaro Contaldo. Oliver said: “Family Food Tube is designed to help parents with ideas, inspiration, or sometimes just to reassure them that they’re not alone in needing food help once in a while. My hope is that people dip in, become part of the Family Food Tube community and come back again and again as we add more content.” Weekly updates will be advertised on Oliver’s portfolio of digital asset, which now reaches 2.6 million subscribers and a monthly global audience of 30 million.
 
Nottingham becomes first city outside London to hold craft beer week: Nottingham is to become the first city outside London to stage its own craft beer week. The inaugural event takes place from Monday 15 June to Sunday 21 June with more than 20 bars, bottle shops and breweries uniting to “promote and develop Nottingham’s love of craft beer”. The event's co-founder, and director of Left Coast Distribution, Nigel Garlick, said it was very much an independent, venue-led initiative with craft beer sampling, meet-the-brewer evenings, brewery tours and live music events. Garlick said: “Nottingham already has the best real ale festival in Britain, which is run and supported by some of the most passionate beer drinkers in the country. Nottingham Craft Beer Week will show the outside world that our city also has many venues and brewers equally passionate about craft keg beers.” A map showing where the events and venues are is available at www.craftbeerweek.co.uk and bars and venues in the city or brewers outside Nottingham wanting to get involved can email enquiries@craftbeerweek.co.uk
 

Company News:

Hard Rock Cafe to mark 35th birthday with 71p burgers: Hard Rock Cafe is celebrating its 35th birthday in the UK on Sunday 14 June by selling burgers for 71p. The chain was founded in London in 1971 by two music-loving Americans, Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton, in an old Rolls-Royce showroom and now has nearly 200 restaurants worldwide. To celebrate turning 35, Hard Rock Cafe’s burgers will cost just 71p on the day while stocks last. Hard Rock claims to convert turnover to pre-tax profit at a better rate than any other UK brand thanks to merchandise sales, which contributes almost 50% of turnover. Hard Rock Cafe UK reported that its turnover rose to £20.7m in the year to 31 December 2013, a 3% rise from £20.08m the year before. Pre-tax profit was £4.8m, down 4% from £5.02m the previous year. The results include a brief period of trading for the company’s third UK site, located in Glasgow, which opened in November last year. The company reported that customers spent an average of £29.13 on retail merchandise, against spend-per-head of £23.94 in the restaurants. There were a total of 498,276 restaurant transactions, up 4.3% on 2012, and 320,079 merchandise transactions, down 3%. In total, the sale of food and beverage was worth £11.49m in 2013, up from £10.76m, while the sale of merchandise was worth £9.22m in 2013, down from £9.32m.
 
Shake Shack's shares surge, company registers Chicken Shack trademark application: Shake Shack's shares have now risen by 40% in value since 14 May and have doubled in value since trading closed after its IPO in 30 January. The American restaurant brand Wendy’s has 95 times as many units as Shake Shack and 12 times its revenue, but while Shake Shack's market capitalisation is $3.44 billion while Wendy’s is $4.18 billion. Meanwhile, the company has sparked fresh speculation about a chicken-based spin-off with a “Chicken Shack” trademark application.

Smokehouse brand Meat & Shake lines up two openings: Meat & Shake, the London-based smokehouse restaurant operator, is opening its second and third sites this summer, in Ealing and Watford. Both restaurants are undergoing extensive building works, with Meat & Shake in Ealing, a former Cafe Rouge outlet, due to open first, in July. The site will cover 2,300 square feet and will cater for 100 covers. The refit, worth over £500,000 will create more than 20 full-time jobs. Meat & Shake Watford, in the Harlequin shopping centre, will be the larger of the two new locations, with 140 covers over 3,200 square feet. The restaurant will open in August, with a fit -out cost of around £850,000. Meat & Shake has also teamed up with the chef and self-styled “bacon wizard” Jasper Aykroyd, who has been consulting with the group for the past 12 months. Aykroyd will take the role of executive chef, in charge of food development. Faraz Ahmad, owner of Meat & Shake, said: "This is a particularly exciting and busy time for us. After the success of our first restaurant in Tooting, we’ve had lots of opportunities to open more, but have been careful in making sure we’ve picked the right site for us. Operationally, opening two sites in close proximity will be a challenge, but one we’re geared up for.” Meat & Shake currently operates one site, in Tooting, South London which opened in late 2013.
 
UK's first purpose-built drive-through fish and chip shop to open in Burnley: The UK's first purpose-built drive-through fish and chip shop is due to open in Burnley on Monday, 1 June. The 4,500 sq ft drive-through in Trafalgar Street is being built by Ben Bannister, who runs the 280-coveer Banny's Restaurant at Boundary Mill in Colne. It will have 35 spaces as well as a restaurant and takeaway. The drive-through and restaurant has created about 40 full and part-time jobs at an estimated cost of £1m. Kimberley Hobson, from Banny’s marketing team, told the Lancashire Telegraph: “It’s the area’s first purpose-built drive-through fish and chip shop. We are quite unique. People have put takeaway kiosks in existing fish and chip shops, but nothing purpose-built. We are bringing fish and chips into the 21st century. We hope it will appeal to everyone who wants a new style of a traditional food.” The site will offer breakfast between 7.30am and 11am daily, consisting of sausage and bacon sandwiches, and toasted teacakes, with a traditional fish and chip menu served between 11am and 9pm. The company's restaurant in Colne opened in 2008, with a takeaway added two years later.

Bloomsbury Leisure plans Birmingham Tap: The craft beer bar operator Bloomsbury Leisure, which runs the Euston Tap and Holborn Whippet in London and the Piccadilly Tap in Manchester, is planning an outlet in Birmingham. The company has already opened a Twitter account for the bar, and revealed that the as-yet unidentified site is set to open in October, and will have an outdoor drinking area. Bloomsbury Leisure, run by Jonathan Dalton, currently has a dozen different outlets in London, Manchester and Bristol, including Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes and the adjoining Ray's Pizza and Diner in Bedford Way, Bloomsbury, London; the Fleet River Bakery in Lincoln's Inn Fields in Holborn, with a newly opened sister site at Upper Woburn Place in Bloomsbury; and the Rock’N’Bowl motel and Lanes bar in Bristol.

Star Pubs & Bars unlocks £5m value to lessees through the roll out of SmartDispense: As Star Pubs & Bars reaches its 200th SmartDispense installation across its estate of 1,300 tenanted and lease pubs, new analysis of the impact of SmartDispense on beer sales has revealed an 8% rise in sales after installation, the company has revealed. As a result, Star Pubs & Bars said, it is accelerating its roll-out of the system, doubling the number of installations by the end of the year. Pubs have seen an increases in dispense yield, which means 3% more beer in the glass and 3% less into the drip trays, worth thousands of pounds to lessees a year. This combined with the 8% rise in sales, means an increase of around 7,900 pints a year per pub. Star Pubs' trading director, Chris Jowsey, said: “Passion for quality is at the heart of what we do, from beer production through dispense and into our consumer’s glass, and its proven to impact positively on lessees’ bottom line. As well as the 8% uplift in sales SmartDispense has delivered a reduction in line-clean wastage, saving 1m litres of water and 6,000 litres of line cleaner chemicals across these 200 pubs, providing an additional saving to lessees amounting to £5m, whilst also benefiting the environment.”
 
Rub Smokehouse and Karaoke Box sign for Birmingham scheme: The barbecue-style restaurant Rub Smokehouse and the London-based chain Karaoke Box are to open in Birmingham city centre. Rub Smokehouse, which was launched by Luke Billingham, Sean Singer and Jason Rowe in Fletchergate in the Lace Market area of Nottingham in November last year, has signed a new 15-year lease on the 7,500 sq ft “Sky Bar” unit at the Regency Court development at a rent of £9.25 per sq ft. The Birmingham outlet, which is expected to open in July, will be larger than its sister venue, with a cocktail bar opening later, possibly to 1am. Karaoke Box, which is opening its first unit outside central London, having signed a new 15-year lease on a 5,500 sq ft courtyard unit at a rent of £14.50 per sq ft. It currently runs cocktail bars and bookable karaoke rooms in Frith Street in Soho, Maddox Street in Mayfair and Smithfield in Farringdon. Regency Wharf will also host a regular street food market, the first of which launched earlier this month. The market, organised by the Scoff Street Food Collective, offers food from a number of local kitchens as well as entertainment from circus performers, street magicians and DJs.
 
Starbucks to open ‘one of its largest UK shops’ in Northampton: Starbucks is to open one of its largest UK shops in Northampton town centre. The new outlet, based in a “landmark building”, could be operating this summer and would be one of the company’s largest in the country, according to Northampton Council. It is one of eight stores Starbucks is planning at “various locations across Northampton”, the council said. Northampton Council has also announced that the pan-Asian restaurant chain Cosmo will open an outlet in the former Balestra nightclub in Market Square. The 350-seat venue will offer pan-Asian and global food and could be open by 2016. Both schemes are subject to successful planning applications. Council leader David Mackintosh made the announcements as part of the Northampton Alive programme, which aims to transform the town.
 
Apartment Group owner Duncan Fisher buys Northumberland hotel: Duncan Fisher, owner of the ten-strong north east of England leisure operator Apartment Group, has acquired a Northumberland hotel which went into liquidation in 2012, and announced plans to turn it into a wedding venue  and create a new village pub. The 27-bedroom Percy Arms Hotel in Otterburn has been closed since its owner went liquidation three years ago, but work is set to start almost immediately on bringing it up to scratch, with the aim of reopening at the end of the year. Fisher said he would be making a "substantial investment" in the property, creating about 50 new jobs. He said: "We are going to create somewhere unique but with real rustic charm and we are sure everyone will be excited when they see the fantastic plans we have. We know a lot of people in the immediate area were very upset when the hotel closed so hopefully the fact we are going to turn it into a really spectacular location will show our continued commitment to Northumberland." The sale of the hotel, which dates back to the 17th century, was handled by Christie + Co. The Apartment Group’s sites include the Georgian boutique hotel and wedding venue Newton Hall and the Joiners Arms inn, both in Newton-by-the-Sea, Northumberland; Nancy’s Bordello bar and restaurant in Newcastle; and Liberty Brown pizza restaurant in Sunderland.
 
PizzaExpress opens at East Midlands Designer Outlet: PizzaExpress has opened a 170-seat restaurant at the East Midlands Designer Outlet in South Normanton, Derbyshire. It joins rivals in the outlet's food court, built in 2008, including Harry Ramsden's, Chopstix, Subway, Spudulike and Burger King. The shopping complex, formerly called McArthur Glen Designer Outlet, is home to 70 stores and is just off Junction 28 of the M1. The new restaurant employs seven pizzaiolos (pizza makers) and 18 waiters and waitresses and is open from 8.30am for breakfast. The breakfast menu, available until 11.30am, includes Italian pastries with any hot drink for £3.50, oven-baked eggs made to order, and rotolini – folded dough with fillings including a free-range egg. Customers can collect stamps so that after five breakfasts they can have a sixth for free. PizzaExpress has also launched a competition for customers to create their own pizza to feature on its autumn menu at all 440-plus PizzaExpress restaurants in the UK, with a first prize of £10,000 and a holiday for two on the Amalfi Coast. The entry form is at www.createyournewfavourite.com.
 
Multi-site operator makes co-investment with Spirit Leased: Multi-site operator Pete Lumber has made a co-investment with his landlord, Spirit Leased, in the Cartwheel, Whitchurch, Bristol, resulting in a revamped kitchen now able to offer a new food menu for all the family. The outside of the pub now has large and enclosed play areas with new equipment and spaces to eat. Lumber, who has operated the pub for eight years, has two other sites with Spirit Leased Pubs, the award-winning Newbury in Bartholomew Street, Newbury, West Berkshire, and the Cherry Tree, Oldland Common, near Bristol. He said: “We have worked exceptionally hard to evolve a community pub that is now welcoming to a wider market. It's a new era and the journey from the vision into reality has been achieved through the critical success of the partnership with Spirit. Spirit Leased Pubs' managing director, Chris Welham, said: “This investment follows Pete’s great work with the Newbury at Newbury, and we’re delighted that the people of Whitchurch and beyond have a welcoming, friendly local pub to enjoy great food and drink in.”
 
Stonegate launches new summer drinks menu across Classic Estate: Stonegate Pub Company’s Classic Estate has launched a new drinks menu for the summer. The new menu, which will be available for three months from Monday 1 June until Tuesday 1 September, has a focus on fruit-flavoured beverages. The new drinks range includes a strawberry spritz made from Galanti Prosecco sweetened with strawberry daiquiri puree; strawberry-flavoured Pimms with a hint of mint; and Liefmans Fruitesse, a beer ripened on cherries in the cellar and blended with the juices of strawberry, raspberry, cherry, bilberry and elderberry. The new menu also has five gins, Bombay Sapphire, Whitley Neill, Gin Mare, Tanqueray No Ten and Hendrick’s. Sam Maynard, Stonegate's marketing manager, said: “We have worked with various drink suppliers to develop a range of gins with distinctly different flavour profiles."

Multi-site retailer Sean Portass reopens one pub, acquires a sixth: The Lincolnshire-based multi-site pub operator Sean Portass has just completed a £250,000 refurbishment of an outlet he acquired in Long Sutton last year, at the same time acquiring a sixth pub, in nearby Holbeach. Portass bought Turpins in Market Place, Long Sutton, last August, and has now reopened it as Palmers Ale House and Kitchen after a complete transformation, including a new thatched roof and a change in colour from magnolia to Suffolk pink. Portass told the Lincolnshire Free Press that previously the pub was "terrible, it was just a grubby little spit-and-sawdust pub, and now it’s a boutique hotel, bar and restaurant with eight letting bedrooms”. Portass has also now bought the Red Lion at Holbeach to add to his other holdings, Palmers, the Granary and The Old Ship Inn, all in Long Sutton, the Rising Sun at nearby Gedney Drove End and the Riverside, also nearby at Sutton Bridge. He told the Free Press that he hopes the transformation at The Red Lion will take about six months. He added: “We are going to do something very similar to what we did at the Granary – turn it back into an old fashioned, proper pub. We are going to put hotel rooms onto that as well. It’s a little bit higgledy-piggledy at the moment.” Features will include a courtyard, bigger kitchen and a roomier interior.

London Fields Brewery boss facing jail over non-payment of £3.2m debt: The founder of the London Fields Brewery, Jules Whiteway-Wilkinson is facing a new eight-year prison term after magistrates said they were “not satisfied” with his efforts to pay a £3.2m debt to taxpayers from his drug dealing past, the London Evening Standard has reported. Whiteway-Wilkinson, who set up the London Fields Brewery in North London after being freed from a 12-year sentence for supplying cocaine, said “bad publicity” and a raid by HM Revenue and Customs had stopped him from complying with an order to repay a “significant” chunk of his criminal profits before a court hearing yesterday. He insisted that he remained committed to clearing his debt and was working up to 20 hours a day to make enough money from his new brewery to do so. But after Westminster magistrates heard he had also failed to obey other court orders requiring him to set out his financial affairs, Whiteway-Wilkinson was told it would “not be in the interests of justice” to delay enforcement of a default sentence for non-payment. An attempt by the bench to impose the eight-year prison term immediately was halted only after Whiteway-Wilkinson’s barrister submitted, without warning, a lengthy legal document setting out grounds to contest the move. That forced the case to be adjourned until September.
 
Dead Dolls House opening third venue in Peckham: Adam Towner and Katy Rosewarne, the couple behind Dead Dolls Club, which runs late-night bars and restaurants in Islington and Bethnal Green, North London, are opening a third venue in Peckham, south of the Thames. The Dolls House flagship at 181 Upper Street Islington contains dining rooms, cocktail bars and a members' lounge, while the Dead Dolls Club at 289 The Arches, Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green is a cocktail bar and restaurant that opened in 2013 after a series of short-term pop-up ventures. The new venture, due to open on 18 June at 1 Clayton Road, Peckham, will include a bar and 30-cover restaurant and rooms for private events. The walls will be again be decorated with Rosewarne’s drawings in permanent marker, as at the company's other venues.
 
Second micropub planned for Colne is next door to town's first: An application has been made for a second micropub in Colne, Lancashire, in premises next door to the town's first. The application to change the use of a former shop in New Market Street into a micropub has been made by Oliver Brooks of Earby, Pendle, Lancashire. Brooks told the Pendle Today website he did not want to comment on his proposal at this stage. The premises are next to the Boyce’s Barrel micropub, which was opened in November last year by Andrew Turner and Carl Pawson.
 
Levy Restaurants relaunches Maze Cafe at Leeds Castle: Levy Restaurants UK, part of Compass Group UK & Ireland, has relaunched the Maze Cafe at Leeds Castle in Kent, after securing a contract extension. The relaunch includes a new look for the cafe and a revised menu with a focus on homemade, fast fresh food in a "family-friendly" environment. Levy also runs the Fairfax Restaurant at Leeds Castle, along with a number of food and drink kiosks throughout the grounds, as well as an event banqueting service, and catering for accommodation guests and "glampers". The company said that with the contract renewal it will be introducing a series of innovations, such as a "quintessentially English" afternoon tea in the Fairfax Restaurant and a focus on events such as weddings, with 2015 expected to be the busiest year yet for weddings at the castle. Jonathan Davidson, business director, leisure at Levy Restaurants, said: “The Maze Cafe looks great and has a brilliant menu. We look forward to it being a huge success.”
 
Hotel team relaunch Town Hall pub: Wavertree Town Hall in Liverpool, which has been a pub since 1979, is being relaunched by a team from the Sefton Park Hotel as Murphy’s Town Hall Tavern. After interior renovations at the Grade II listed building, which was built in 1872 as the headquarters of the Wavertree Local Board of Health, it will have a 50-seat restaurant, a 45-seat bar and two 130-capacity function suites. Conor O’Donovan, chief executive of Sefton Park Hotel and O’Connor’s Bar & Grill in Sefton Park, Liverpool, told the Echo newspaper: “After securing a new venture in another great suburban setting, the team and I are extremely excited to bring something new to the area. Not only will the new venue serve a selection of contemporary-classic dishes and beverages, the sheer scale of the property will also enable room hire facilities ideal for private parties such as weddings, birthdays and christenings, as well as corporate events. Being one of Liverpool’s most historic districts, rich in culture and diversity, the High Street is renowned for its urban-village appeal and beautiful buildings. With that in mind, we believe that the overall offering and Murphy’s will make a great new addition to the lively location.” Murphy’s Town Hall Tavern is set to open its doors to the public on Wednesday 17 June.