Britain's pub and restaurant groups have reported better Christmas and New Year trading than a year ago - though not by much. Collective like-for-like sales for the six weeks up to January 6 were up 2.1% on the same period 12 months ago, according to latest data from the Coffer Peach Business Tracker, the industry's sales barometer. Total sales for the festive period, which … [Read more...]
Fuller’s book of jokes to help customers beat ‘Blue Monday’
Apparently, Monday 21 January is set to be the most depressing day of the year – ‘Blue Monday’ – so Fuller’s has decided to help its pub customers survive the gloom by distributing a book of some of the favourite jokes of employees at the London brewery. Anyone feeling a little down should head for their nearest Fuller's pub where the staff will be on hand to dispense a … [Read more...]
Innovation = Revenue for Head of Steam
The Head Of Steam group of pubs is known to lead the way when it comes to looking for what’s next in the pub trade, and has decided that the next big thing is imported beers - and cans! Most of the company’s pubs now sell a huge range of beers imported from every corner of the world. But just how rare can a beer be? Well, not much rarer than Alaskan Smoked Porter from the … [Read more...]
Stonegate finalists for Great Traditional Pie Competition
The Stonegate Pub Company takes pies – a particular favourite of H&C News, see our ‘Football Pie League’ – seriously, and has just announced the finalists of its Great Traditional Pie Competition, one of the company’s most eagerly anticipated events. Each year, 143 pubs within its Great Traditional Pubs business segment are invited to put forward pies, sweet or savoury, … [Read more...]
Great British Pork Crackling for Fuller’s
The pork scratching category may not be one that greatly concerns most of us, but apparently food writers Tom Parker Bowles and Matthew Fort with Cotswold farmer, Rupert Ponsonby, and pork scratching producer Graham Jebb of RayGray Snacks shared a dream: to create a new interpretation of the scratching made from 100% British pigs and using no added MSG. The result: Mr … [Read more...]