Here is our Hospitality News Roundup from around the country for week commencing 11th April. If we’ve missed anything please add in the comments below:
Monday 11/4/16
Lincolnshire Echo: Lincoln restaurateur to take over historic pub and create 10 jobs: Ten new jobs are to be created as a Chinese restaurateur is to take over a historic village pub.The King’s Head, Collingham, is to be leased to Rose Fang who is planning to run it as a pub restaurant. She already owns the Rose Orchard Restaurant opposite Lincoln’s Theatre Royal. She is now planning to welcome her first customers in mid to late April. She said: “Before we relocated our first restaurant in Newark Road, alongside the A46, to Lincoln, we had many customers who visited us from Collingham, so I knew about the King’s Head and I could see it offered us good potential. “I expect our new venture to create about 10 part-time jobs. Food-wise we plan to create a 65-seat restaurant area and to initially serve Chinese food, but it is possible that we will expand to include English cuisine, including Sunday Lunch.” The pub’s owners, David and Hilary Bower, are delighted to have leased the pub after months of trying to let or sell it. They even considered applying for planning permission to turn it into houses which upset some villagers. David said: “We have owned the pub for 19 years. After six months of marketing, we received no offers for the lease or freehold of the building, so we decided to explore other options. The only viable choice was a change of use to residential accommodation. “However, some villagers decided to mount a campaign and applied to Newark and Sherwood District Council to get the pub listed as a community asset. They succeeded. “We are really pleased that we have managed to re-let the pub to a suitable tenant for the next five years. That was our prime target, because from the outset we didn’t really want to sell the premises.”
Tuesday 12/4/16
Propelinfonews.com: BII announces Licensee of the Year award finalists: The British Institute of Innkeeping (BII), the leading professional body for the UK’s licensees, has announced the six finalists for its 2016 Licensee of the Year awards. The format changed this year, with those in the industry encouraged to not only register themselves but nominate others, with customers, colleagues, pub companies, brewers and operators all nominating their favourite “local”. The finalists are: Gerry and Ann Price, of the Inn West End in West End, near Woking; Andrew Fishwick, of the Truscott Arms in Maida Vale, London; Rob and Lucy Brewer, of the Rashleigh Arms in St Austell, Cornwall; Glen Duckett, of the Eagle & Child in Ramsbottom, Bury; Mel Carus, of the Metropolitan in West Didsbury, Manchester; and Glen Pearson, of the Shibden Mill in Halifax. In May, the finalists will be quizzed by industry experts in four areas – marketing, industry affairs, finance, and people and training. The winner will be announced at the BII summer event on Tuesday, 7 June.
Propelinfonews.com: Tim Martin – cash-poor, social media-living generation are losing pub-going habit: JD Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin has said the rise in social media had led to a cash-poor, screen-living younger generation who were “losing the pub-going habit”. In an interview with The Scotsman, Martin partly blamed levels of student debt for adding another unquantifiable pressure on the industry. He said: “There is a link. It seems that people who use social media a lot feel less need to socialise. Many tend to be students and you have a grand impoverishment of our students, what with tuition fees, etc. That’s bound to affect pub sales and other types of consumption. I did not leave university with £50,000 of debt.”
Propelinfonews.com: Amber Taverns acquires Kettering pub: Managed operator Amber Taverns has bought the Watercress Harry pub in Kettering, Northamptonshire. The company has acquired the site in Market Street in an off-market deal by agent Davy Co. The pub, which is currently closed, is a single-room trading venue with an outside courtyard area. Amber Taverns, which has more than 100 sites across the Midlands and the northern part of the UK, will now carry out a full refurbishment of the property prior to reopening.
Morning Advertiser: CAMRA calls for ACV protections to apply to all pubs
By Oli Gross, 12-Apr-2016
The Campaign for Real Ale has called for planning protections given to assets of community value (ACV) to apply to all pubs, after latest figures showed 1,500 venues now hold the status. Read More
Wednesday 13/4/16
Propelinfonews.com: Fitzbillies set for second site in Cambridge: Plans for Cambridge-based Fitzbillies, which is renowned for its sticky Chelsea buns, to open a second site in the city have taken a step forward. St John’s College, advised by Savills, has let a retail unit in Bridge Street to Fitzbillies. The company, dubbed a Cambridge institution, has taken a new ten-year lease for space on the ground floor, which totals 859 square feet. Fitzbillies was represented by Dodson Jones. Doug Stanton, associate in the business space team at Savills Cambridge, said: “Situated in a popular city centre location close to the River Cam and Quayside, Fitzbillies will complement the current eclectic retail, restaurant and leisure offering in Bridge Street. We are delighted to have let this space on behalf of our client and to be a part of Fitzbillies expansion as it opens its second store in the local area and strengthens its presence in Cambridge.” Fitzbillies’ famous Chelsea buns have been made and sold at its Trumpington Street premises since 1921.
Thursday 14/4/16
Propelinfonews.com: National Living Wage – Samuel Smith’s adds 10p to 12p a pint, Eat cuts lunch pay for recipients: North Yorkshire-based brewer and retailer Samuel Smith’s is adding 10p to 12p a pint on some of its beers to cover the cost of the National Living Wage. The company has agreed the 12p rise for Taddy lager, with 10p going on to the price of Old Brewery Bitter. The price of mild will stay the same. A brewery spokesman said he expected the price changes to be operational across the company’s 200 outlets by the end of this month. He stressed the rises were only the second by Samuel Smith’s in 20 years apart from those due to government duty increases. He confirmed the increases were to pay the National Living Wage to staff. As stocks of beer run down at current prices, the new levels will be introduced on replacement supplies, he added. Meanwhile, fresh food-to-go retailer Eat has stopped paying its staff for lunch breaks if they are receiving the National Living Wage in a move to offset costs. The company was paying staff £3.60 for their 30-minute break, the Daily Mail reports. The move comes days after Caffe Nero said its staff would lose their right to a free lunch as it slashed costs to pay for the National Living Wage. Eat said its staff had also been given a wage hike, which compensated them for no longer being paid during their lunch break. A spokesman said the average hourly rate at the firm was now £7.60 an hour, with 95% of employees receiving a pay rate in excess of the £7.20 National Living Wage. However, Labour MP and former shadow chancellor Chris Leslie warned firms that followed suit would face a backlash from staff and customers. He said: “This penny-pinching will erode morale and the goodwill of the staff affected. But it will also hit their reputation among customers and will drive them away. The odd panini or a few minutes at lunch is not going to ruin a company’s bottom line. It is a grave mistake for companies who rely on their staff day in, day out, to treat them like this.” The government introduced the National Living Wage on 1 April with people aged 25 and over now paid £7.20 an hour.
Friday 15/4/16
Hospitalityandcateringnews.com: Warm welcome for 1am extended hours for Queens’ 90th Birthday: The longer hours, subject to approval by Parliament, apply to Friday 10th and Saturday 11th June – a celebration that happily coincides with the start of the Euro 2016 football. On the Saturday at 5pm, Wales take on Slovakia in Bordeaux, and at 8pm it’s England versus Russia in Marseille. Section 172 of the Licensing Act 2003 allows for extended hours to be set on a national basis. Since the Act was introduced in 2005, there have been extended hours for the Royal Wedding, The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the World Cup. BBPA Chief Executive Brigid Simmonds comments: “I am delighted that the Government is recommending extra pub hours until 1am for these two days. It is a momentous milestone for the Queen, and there’s no better place that the Great British pub to celebrate. We also estimate that it will provide a £20 million boost for pubs.”
Golfclubmanagement.net: Lincoln Golf Centre praised in House of Commons for helping people with dementia: A Member of Parliament has praised Lincoln Golf Centre in the House of Commons for its incredible work in using golf to improve the lives of people living with dementia. Lincoln MP Karl McCartney brought up the club during a parliamentary discussion on the social and economic value of the sport.Last November Lincoln GC became the UK’s first ‘dementia friendly golf club’ when, following work with the Alzheimer’s Society, it began using golf to tailor a physical, mental and social stimulation service to each dementia client. A mental health expert called the service ‘marvellous’ and feedback from clients has been positive. “Golf adds such value to our economy, to employment, to our environment and to our public health,” said McCartney. “The aim is to change the perception of golf. Some great work has been done by England Golf and all four home unions have specific projects in inner city areas, including the national Get Into Golf campaign and help for those with disabilities to take part in the sport. “Lincoln Golf Centre recently launched a project to help people with dementia to play and continue to play golf, which is happily hosted by [Lincoln GC owner] Brian Logan and supported by Anthony Blackburn, founder of Golf In Society [an organisation that aims to make a positive contribution to the health and wellbeing of local communities through golf]. Before Easter I was invited to meet players and their families, friends and carers, some of whom enjoyed a morning of respite while their husbands, wives, friends or partners enjoyed some golf.” Anthony Blackburn said: “To witness the positive impact we’ve had on people’s lives has been the most rewarding part of the venture. “Dementia touches each person differently, that’s why you can’t just take a generic approach when designing a dementia service, it’s crucial to be able to personalise the delivery and content. Read More