Monday 30/1/17
Propelinfonews.com – Charles Wells to open third Pizza, Pots and Pints site, in Peterborough: Bedford-based brewer and retailer Charles Wells is to open its third Pizza, Pots and Pints site, this time in Peterborough. The company is opening the venue in Queen Street on the site of the former Clarkes fine-dining restaurant. Prior to 2013, it had been the brewer’s Grapevine pub. The venue will offer artisan pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven as well as “one-pot comfort food” such as mac and cheese and cheesy squash casserole ham hock fricassee, along with Charles Wells beer. A spokesman told the Peterborough Telegraph: “Following the successful launch of our Pizza, Pots and Pints concept at the Salisbury Arms in Cambridge two years ago, we’re looking to bring its winning formula to Peterborough. It has been received better than we could have hoped and we feel we have found a winning formula so it makes more sense to go with a managed site. We have been tracking this site for some time and this gives us a great opportunity to have more creative control and do something different to the other operators.” The company has lodged plans with the city council for new signage and some internal alterations and expects to open the site in the summer. Charles Wells’ other Pizza, Pots and Pints site is The Old White Horse pub in Baldock, Hertfordshire.
Tuesday 31/1/17
Propelinfonews.com – Ponti’s Italian Kitchen to open third site, in Gainsborough: London-based Ponti’s Italian Kitchen is set to open its third site, in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. The company is looking to open the restaurant on the ground floor of the former Sun Inn on the corner of Market Street and North Street, creating 20 jobs. The site would also be home to a 56-bedroom Travelodge. Family-owned Ponti’s has a site in Oxford Circus in London and at Fox Valley in north Sheffield. Developer Dransfield Properties is partnering West Lindsey Council on a wider regeneration scheme of the area and the first phase will be to deliver the new Travelodge and the Ponti’s Italian Kitchen restaurant. Dransfield Properties managing director Mark Dransfield told Lincolnshire Live: “We are delighted to be working with West Lindsey District Council to improve the public realm and shopfronts in the area. This is an important site in the town and that is certainly reflected in the quality of design and architecture. We want to deliver a high-quality building that is sympathetic with the area and using high-quality materials that will stand the test of time.”
Propelinfonews.com – Real Burger Co starts expansion with second site, in Grantham: The Real Burger Co, which operates a restaurant in Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, has started expansion by opening a second site, this time in Grantham, Lincolnshire, creating more than 25 jobs. The new restaurant is in a former Greenwoods clothing store in High Street and features a kitchen, bar and dining areas. The Real Burger Co was launched in December 2014 by Leanne Hull and Martyn Kirby. Area manager Tim Morris said the business was looking to expand its operations further. Hull told the Grantham Journal: “Grantham doesn’t have anything like The Real Burger Co and this was a good opportunity we didn’t want to turn down.”
Morningadvertiser.co.uk – BBPA releases guidance for pubs on catering for customers with access needs
By Nikkie Sutton, 31-Jan-2017
The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) has published updated guidance in a bid to help licensees ensure their pubs are welcoming to customers with access needs. Read More
Wednesday 1/2/17
Propelinfonews.com – 200 Degrees to open fifth site in March, in Leicester: Nottingham-based coffee roaster and retailer 200 Degrees is set to open its fifth site, this time in Leicester. The company, founded by Rob Darby and Tom Vincent in 2012, will open the outlet on Thursday, 9 March in Market Street on the site of the former Lumbers Jewellers, creating 15 jobs. Vincent told the Nottingham Post: “We’ve had a fantastic response to our previous coffee shops and we are very pleased to have secured our fifth site. We will be bringing the stylish and comfortable interior and many familiar elements we offer at our other coffee shops, while adding a few special new ideas for the busy commuters and nearby offices, along with some small booths for quiet chats or meetings. The company has two sites in Nottingham and one each in Birmingham and Leeds.
Morningadvertiser.co.uk – Route clear for Heineken’s Punch pubs takeover
By Liam Coleman, 01-Feb-2017
Heineken is now the only remaining bidder for a portfolio of 1,900 Punch pubs after rival bidder Emerald Investment confirmed that it would not pursue its bid further. Read More
Thursday 2/2/17
Morningadvertiser.co.uk – Greene King lawyers urge minister to clear up stocking rights
By Michelle Perrett, 02-Feb-2017
Greene King’s lawyers have written to Greg Clark, Secretary of State for the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), calling for an amendment on stocking rights in the pubs code. Read More
Boutiquehotelier.com – Bloomsbury takes over Felixstowe hotel in response to ‘urgent need’: London-based hotel company Bloomsbury Realty Management Ltd has taken over The Orwell Hotel in Felixstowe. The long established Orwell Hotel in Suffolk is in addition to the town’s 60-bed Premier Inn, which opened last year. Bloomsbury reportedly recognised an “urgent need to service the demand for business/leisure accommodation and associated facilities in the town”, before acquiring the property. Read More
Boutiquehotelier.com – Richard III, Leicester City FC and space inspire hotel’s new family rooms: The Belmont Hotel, an independent hotel in Leicester, is celebrating two of the city’s highest profile connections with the launch of two new family bedrooms and a third scheduled for later in the year. The first two rooms are themed around space and King Richard III. The Space room commemorates Leicester’s location as home to the National Space Centre and the University of Leicester’s successful developments in space research since the late 1960s. The King Richard III room is themed around the discovery of the remains of the last Plantagenet king of England in the city in 2012 and subsequent reinterment in Leicester Cathedral in 2015. Read More
Friday 3/2/17
Boutiquehotelier.com – Water-saving device claims it can save hotels ‘millions of pounds’: A water-saving invention costing £10 has the potential to “save hotels and restaurants millions of pounds”, according to its creators. The Drenched Volumiser is a simple device which fits onto a tap, transforming water into an ultra-fine molecular mist which warms on contact with air and skin, saving water, energy and money. It means users can wash their hands in just three tablespoons of water – a fraction of the amount normally used. Read More
Propelinfonews.com – NLW leads to increase of £900m in sector’s total wage bill: The National Living Wage (NLW) has led to an increase of £900m in the hospitality sector’s total wage bill, according to new research. Analysis by S4Labour, the online labour-scheduling management system from Catton Hospitality, also showed the majority of the cost, which was introduced in April last year, had come from increases to the wages of under-25s. The average hourly pay rate for over-25s working in hospitality is 90p higher than the NLW rate of £7.20. Outside London, people are typically paid at a level much closer to the NLW (£7.29). The NLW has also affected the wages of under-25s, a demographic that comprises 89% of all hourly-paid employees in the industry. The national average hourly wage for under-25s is £7.26, six pence above the NLW level and 31 pence higher than the legal minimum. The data was drawn from a sample of more than 23,000 employees working across more than 100 hospitality organisations.
Propelinfonews.com – City Pub Company gets go-ahead for fifth Cambridge site: Independent pub operator City Pub Company has been given the go-ahead to open its fifth Cambridge site. The company has had its plans to convert the Backstreet Bistro in Sturton Street approved by the city council despite fierce opposition from residents. Plans to upgrade the roof plant and install an air extractor system at the venue were met with concerns, along with fact the capacity was being increased from 40 to 114, reports the Cambridge News. However, the company was granted permission by the council to go ahead to add to its four other sites in the city – The Punt Yard, The Mill, The Old Bicycle Shop and Cambridge Brew House. City Pub Company will now finish refurbishing the site ahead of reopening it as The Petersfield, in April. Last month, chairman Clive Watson told Propel the company, which has just acquired its 30th pub, had identified three further sites as it looked to build a 35-strong estate ahead of its planned AIM float this year.
Thecaterer.com – Restaurateur threatens legal action over TripAdvisor listing mix-up: A restaurateur has threatened legal action against online reviews website TripAdvisor after a restaurant he left two years ago appeared still to be open on the site. Richard Bradford, owner of Porters English Restaurant, relocated the business from Covent Garden in London to Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire in 2014. However, Bradford complained that the website had not updated to reflect the fact that the restaurant had relocated, leaving customers confused. In one instance in late December 2016, he highlighted the case of a group of eight who were booked in for lunch who rang up from outside 17 Henrietta Street in London, the site of the old restaurant, asking where Porters was. Read More https://www.thecaterer.com/articles/495278/restaurateur-threatens-legal-action-over-tripadvisor-listing-mix-up