Monday 9/11/15
Morning Advertiser: Illegal Premier League football: 12 pubs prosecuted and supplier hit with big fine
By Mike Berry, 09-Nov-2015
Twelve pubs have been ordered to pay more than £90,000 in costs for unauthorised broadcasts of Premier League football using foreign satellite systems. Read More
PropelInfonews.com: Peter Hansen – multiple operators will need to forge a closer relationship with tenanted pub companies in the wake of MRO: Sapient Corporate Finance founder Peter Hansen has advised multiple operators to forge closer relationships with the senior management of their tenanted pub company landlords in the wake of the Market Rent Option, which means tenanted pub companies are moving to grant only short term agreements, and in most cases five years. He forecast the assignment value of tied leases will diminish as buyers recognise that tenanted pub companies are likely to take pubs back under direct management rather than risk reduced income when a tenant triggers a move to an open market rent. It will also become more difficult to finance leases with banks as leases near their end, he warned. Hansen suggested that operators with existing longer leases negotiate with their landlords at a senior level to create security of tenure. A number of Enterprise Inns’ tenants, such as Laine Pub Company, have converted existing tied leases to longer commercial leases, paying more rent but extending the length of their leases and free-of-tie terms. Hansen, whose company has undertaken 42 sector transactions worth £2.7bn since 2009, told the Propel Multi Club Conference: “The long-term lease market and the assignment market are going to reduce radically in size. There were over 10,000 tied leases ten years ago and in a few years that will be reduced to 2,000 to 3,000. Sadly, the tied lease has created so much opportunity for entrepreneurs such as Rupert Clevely (Geronimo Inns) and Nick Pring and Malcolm Heap (Realpubs) but not any longer. We’re going to see the extinction of the tied lease, even for those who want one and like the tie. There are free-of-tie leases and free-of-tie turnover leases (now available) and several people have already taken advantage of that including Laine, Duck & Rice and Brasserie Blanc. There is the opportunity to go to your landlord and say, ‘I’ve got a tied lease, I want to go free-of-tie, I’ve still got ten years left on my lease, let’s sit down and talk about it to try and come up with an agreement so you get the security of tenure that you want and you get a free-of-tie lease’. You’re going to have a higher rent but it should be an amicable discussion. In the long term, you want a relationship with your pub company where you get the ability to take on more pubs and grow your business and you’re not going to be able to do that if you just elect to go free-of-tie. Talk to your landlord at the highest level possible. Work with your pub company – you’ll find it easier to work with them if you build a relationship of trust.”
Travel Daily UK: Compass adds historic Nottingham hotel to its portfolio: Asia-based Compass Hospitality Group has added the historic and newly renovated Lace Market Hotel in High Pavement, Nottingham to its UK hotel portfolio. Previously converted from a Georgian townhouse, the property features 42 rooms and suites. Standard room amenities include flat screen HD LCD TV, high-speed Wi-Fi, minibar and refreshment counter, and en-suite bathroom. Superior rooms and suites feature original fireplaces, free-standing bathtubs, artworks and period interior designs. The hotel also houses Merchants Restaurant, featuring modern British cuisine by Chef Ben Chaplin; Saint Cocktail Bar, which is overseen by award-winning mixologist James Vyse; and Cock & Hoop, a quintessentially British pub majoring on cask ales and gastro food. An elegant meeting room accommodates 22 people for meetings and private dinners. Lace Market Hotel is the sixth hotel in UK to be managed by Compass Hospitality. It follows the company’s acquisition in August of the Big Sleep Hotels portfolio in Cardiff, Cheltenham and Eastbourne. Earlier this year, Compass Hospitality commenced its management of The Lion Hotel Shrewsbury and The White Swan Halifax. The Group’s portfolio now comprises 45 properties in Thailand, Malaysia and the UK.
Propelinfonews.com: JD Wetherspoon pub plan in Quaker town is rejected: JD Wetherspoon’s plan to convert an original Welwyn Garden City (population: 43,252) house into a pub have been turned down by councillors. Heritage campaigners, councillors and residents had united to oppose the planning application submitted by the company for 22 Parkway, a three-storey 1920s house that once housed the Maynard Gallery. Claude Hitching of Asquith House, a nearby block of retirement flats, told the local newspaper: “Ebenezer Howard and his colleagues who designed and developed our lovely town were all devout Quakers who believed in total abstinence from alcohol, and one can imagine them spinning in their graves if they could hear of this current preposterous proposal. It is ridiculous. We will be kept awake late at night.” The building was most recently used for mental health services, but is currently boarded up.
Big Hospitality: Diners put off by expensive hotel restaurants
By Sophie Witts, 06-Nov-2015
Pricey hotel restaurants are proving off-putting to diners who aren’t staying there as a guest, a new study has found. Read More
Propelinfonews.com: Northamptonshire-based gourmet burger concept Mumu to start expanding with second site: Northamptonshire-based gourmet burger restaurant concept Mumu is to start expanding by opening its second site in the county next month. Mumu, which launched in Kettering last October, is opening the new venue in Northampton in Giles Street on the site of the Seafood Cafe, which closed in August. As well as burgers, it serves pizzas, hot dogs and milkshakes. Specials include peanut butter and jam burgers packed with crisps. Co-owner Gareth Di Fante told the Northampton Chronicle & Echo: “We want people to be able to have a meal then stay around and have a few cocktails. The music will be turned up a touch louder than most restaurants so we don’t mind if people make a bit more noise if they’re having fun.” The new branch is set to open on Friday, 4 December.
Morning Advertiser: How Pub is the Hub is assisting closed rural pubs get back off the ground
By James Evison, 09-Nov-2015
Funding for diversifying pub businesses can help turn local village life around. Read More
Tuesday 10/11/15
Hospitality & Catering News: Restaurant insolvencies jump by 50%: The number of restaurants going out of business was 50% higher last year than at the height of the recession – with 1,294 becoming insolvent in 2014/15, up from 865 in 2009/10, says Moore Stephens, the Top Ten accountancy firm. Figures show that failure rates among restaurants jumped 20% in just one year, up from 1,082 in 2013/14, even as consumer confidence and spending power are boosted by a return to wage growth. Moore Stephens says that the recent boom in ‘pop-ups’, innovative mobile street food operators and concept restaurants opening, coinciding with a more favourable economic outlook, could be inspiring many would-be restaurateurs and chefs to start a food business. However it says that despite improving consumer spending, increasing competition and rising rents mean that the financial pressures on restaurant and catering businesses remain extremely high. High profile failures in the past year include four of Marco Pierre White’s pubs, which went into administration in January, and Swiftsure Projects, the firm behind last year’s Masterchef pop-up restaurant, which collapsed despite the event reportedly selling out within days. Steve Ramsbottom, Restructuring & Insolvency Partner at Moore Stephens says, “You don’t expect to see restaurants failing at their fastest rate in years in a rebounding economy. “Whilst consumer spending on eating out is increasing, the competition for that restaurant spend is intensifying at a faster rate. Innovation in the sector is leaving some older formats for dead. “At the same time costs – particularly rents – are rising. The combination of these factors is creating very challenging market conditions and increasing numbers are closing as a result. “In a more buoyant climate, as rents, wage bills and other operational costs increase, it can be easy to underestimate the true impact of set-up costs and on-going overheads on profits,” says Steve Ramsbottom. “The buzz surrounding innovative new food and restaurant concepts may be a big draw encouraging people to ‘have a go’ but the inexperienced can get out of their depth very quickly. “That’s true for pop ups and mobile street food businesses as well as restaurants. Installing equipment in a converted warehouse or serving lobster rolls out of a vintage fire engine doesn’t come cheap. He adds, “As new, trendy eateries open up in towns and cities, existing restaurants and food outlets which may seem less exciting and inviting by comparison are inevitably at risk of getting edged out.” Key factors impacting profitability Read More
Morning Advertiser: Draft pubs code: U-turn as Parallel Rent Assessments back in consultation
By Oli Gross, 10-Nov-2015
Government has reversed a decision to remove Parallel Rent Assessments (PRA) from the Pubs Code after facing fierce criticism for its admission. Read More
Propelinfonews.com: Greene King donates further £15,000 to Pub is The Hub: Greene King has made a donation of £15,000 to Pub is The Hub’s Community Services Fund in order to help to support rural pubs who want to diversify their services for the benefit of their communities. This is the third year Greene King has given to the fund, bringing the total donated to £45,000. The Community Services Fund, which has been available since April 2013, aims to offer funds to licensees who are looking to broaden their services to the wider community but are unable to find suitable funding from other sources. With grants available of up to £4,000, applicants have to demonstrate they will be offering a new service or replacing a service that has already been lost to the local community, such as a local shop or a library. In addition, for every £1 that is invested in the Community Service Fund by Pub is The Hub, a further £1 is matched or invested by public funding or private investment. Rooney Anand, Greene King’s chief executive, said: “Pubs have always played a really important role in the community and by supporting the Community Services Fund means we can help pubs to provide other services in their local area. It is great to see licensees offer their locals something more than a pie and a pint, such as a library in a pub or providing a postal service when the local post office has closed down. I look forward to seeing the progress and positive impact the Community Services Fund will make again this year.”
Golf Club Management: This woman has just become the PGA’s first ever female director of golf: A PGA professional has become the first woman ever to gain the PGA’s director of golf qualification. The previous 50 directors of golf were all male. Sarah Walton is the head pro at Kington where she has a busy role including the brief of raising the Herefordshire club’s profile. “Kington was my first role so it was a logical step to fill in any gaps in knowledge and experience that I had,” she said. “Being a smaller club, I’m very hands on and work closely with the club committee to help move the club forward. “One of the main parts of the director of golf course which helped me a lot was to look at my strengths and weaknesses to help with career planning moving forward and to learn about areas where I need more experience or can improve my knowledge.” Walton, who regularly competes in WPGA events, is revelling in her role and is determined to make an impact at the club. “I really enjoy the job and the different aspects to it,” she added. “One day you are coaching, the next day it might be club repairs and the day after that you could be in a meeting on how to market the club so that is something that keeps me interested. “It is a beautiful area, part of my remit is to raise the profile of the club and we’re doing that slowly, it’s lovely to have a club I can work at where there is a lot of mutual respect – it is a good match.” Walton sees the role of the PGA pro as pivotal to the success of any club. “We are the first point of contact for club members and visitors. How we interact is absolutely key to our success, especially here because we don’t have a full time manager / club secretary. “As pros we have to earn respect and it’s up to us to prove our worth and if we do the job well we can show our value and worth to the club.” To date 51 pros have gone through the programme, which assesses individuals ‘knowledge and understanding’ and ‘competence’ across seven core management units: personal, strategic, operational, people, financial, marketing and customer service, and specific areas of expertise. Walton is no stranger to academic success having graduated as the Titleist PGA Assistant of the Year award in 2013 which helped her land the job at Kington.
Wednesday 11/11/15
Propelinfonews.com: Leicestershire chip shop named UK’s best takeaway: The inaugural British Takeaway Awards in association with Just Eat have crowned a humble village chippie as the best takeaway restaurant in the country. Chris’s Fish and Chips in Barwell, Leicestershire, came top after a public vote of more than 100,000 customers in the competition. The chip shop, run by Stratis Kyriacou and his wife, who pride themselves in offering “great fresh fast food with the local community at its core”, beat off competition from 25,000 other outlets including noodle bars, sushi restaurants and Indian outlets for the coveted award. Other regional winners included the North East Retro Sweet Shop in Darlington – the first UK takeaway service to deliver American candy and Oreo milkshakes to homes. Other regional winners included: Galos UK, Hertford – best takeaway in the east; Wiwo Noodle Bar, Cardiff – best takeaway in Wales; Brunch, Prescot – best takeaway in north west; Sakushi, Sheffield – best takeaway in Yorkshire and Humber; Eastern Cuisine, Crystal Palace – best takeaway in south London; The Golden Fish, Dagenham – best takeaway in north London. The winners were decided after topping a public vote of more than 100,000 customers regionally, a mystery shop and scrutiny from an independent panel of judges. The UK takeaway industry is worth £9bn to the UK economy. Total employment in the takeaway industry rose by 10% from 2012 to 2014 and by nearly 17% over the past five years.
Propelinfonews.com: Sticks ‘n’ Sushi and Chopstix line up Cambridge openings: Sticks ‘n’ Sushi has put in a planning application to open in the Old Library, part of the Guildhall, next door to Jamie’s Italian in Cambridge. Meanwhile, Chopstix has applied for a change of use for the Fones 4 Ever store in Market Street. Councillor Lewis Herbert, leader of the city council, welcomed the rise in restaurants and says it gives more choice to residents. He said: “City council planning policies help us ensure that the all important retail offer and range is protected along with the vitality of the city centre, but is also important that we also help a diversity of restaurants and food outlets develop in the centre to meet all tastes and budgets. Many of these new smaller restaurants are replacing the formerly excess number of mobile phone shops, so for me personally, and I believe for many others too, the new choice of eateries is a net gain for Cambridge.”
Thursday 12/11/15
Morning Advertiser: Punch unveils new operating format
By James Wallin, MC Allegra FS, 12-Nov-2015
Punch Taverns has revealed details of its new operating models including a turnover based agreement, its first managed house and commercial free-of-tie arrangements as well as the potential to franchise out some of its concepts. Read More
Propelinfonews.com: Coaching Inn Group reports 50% boost to coffee sales as it invests £100,000: The Coaching Inn Group is investing £100,000 in developing a top quality coffee offer across its estate as early results show a 50% increase in sales. Working with specialist fresh coffee company Bewley’s, whose award-winning baristas are providing extensive training for The Coaching Inn Group staff, the new-look coffeehouse and eatery concept has been launched at six of its properties and will be rolled out across the rest of the group next year. “Working with Bewley’s, we have seen daytime coffee and patisserie sales increase 50% and received tremendous feedback from customers for our new coffeehouse and eatery concept,” said Kevin Charity, managing director of The Coaching Inn Group. “Providing a high quality full day offer to increase local as well as visitor and business trade, is a key part of our development strategy for all our hotels and there is a strong and still growing demand for great coffee as part of that offer.”
Friday 13/11/15
Propelinfonews.com: Castle Rock Brewery opens biggest pub: Castle Rock Brewery has opened its biggest pub, The Embankment, the former home of the Boots Social Club at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. It has undergone a £600,000 refurbishment to become the 21st pub to be operated by Castle Rock Brewery in its East Midlands heartland. The business is owned by The Beer Consortium, an EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) company set up in late 2014 under the chairmanship of Geoff Newton. Newton said: “This is a fabulous building with an even more fascinating past. For many Nottingham people it was where they relaxed and played after a week’s work at one of the city’s most important employers. For others, commuting across Trent Bridge, it will have been unknown and private. Now though, it is open to all with a young energetic staff looking forward to giving a universal welcome to all. I’m confident it will become a place everyone can enjoy, both as a neighbourhood pub but also as a destination for good food, drinks and conversation.” Castle Rock Brewery managing director Colin Wilde said: “This will be a classic Castle Rock-style pub. It’ll be for our neighbours in the Meadows area of the city; and have wide appeal to the conurbation and visitors to the nearby cricket and football grounds. By retaining all its fascinating features; its oak panelling, stained glass windows and fine décor, we pay homage to its former life as a chemists’ shop and social club.”
Sunday 15/11/15
Traveldailymedia.com: Pride of Britain hotels welcomes new members – Bedford Lodge Hotel & Spa in Newmarket and Ellenborough Park near Cheltenham join group: Originally built as a hunting lodge for the Duke of Bedford in the 18th century, four-star Bedford Lodge sits in three acres of secluded, landscaped gardens adjacent to Newmarket’s famous paddocks and horse-racing training stables. The hotel’s Squires Restaurant is renowned for reinventing celebrated British classics while using the finest seasonal ingredients and its state-of-the-art spa has a glass-walled hydrotherapy pool, steam room, sauna, experiential showers, ten treatment rooms, a lounge and a rooftop terrace. Ellenborough Park, former home of Lord Ellenborough, Governor General of India, is a five-star hotel set on part of the original Cheltenham racecourse estate. A cluster of honey-coloured stone buildings is set around a historic Cotswold manor house and there are 60 bedrooms that provide a contemporary take on traditional English country-house style. The wood-panelled Beaufort Dining Room, complete with atmospheric Tudor fireplaces and stained glass windows, serves classic British dishes with a modern twist and the wine list is extensive, with over different 500 wines. Leisure facilities include an outdoor heated swimming pool and an impressive spa featuring seven treatment rooms, a Jacuzzi pool, sauna, steam room, relaxation room and monsoon showers. The two additions bring the consortium’s total member properties to 48, just two short of the upper limit of 50 according to its rules. All applications for membership are subject to an anonymous overnight inspection before being presented to existing members for their vote.