Recent research found that the price of energy paid by UK businesses has increased by as much as 58% since January 2010, with significant impact on the performance of many businesses – including those in the hospitality sector. Using less energy in your business has become ever-more important. Now a survey of energy experts from 153 of the UK’s largest businesses finds that … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2012
Dining at its finest arrives at Harewood House
Harewood House one of Yorkshire’s finest country homes and family seat of the Earl and Countess of Harewood, has announced that The Box Tree Restaurant will head up their fine dining offer. Rena and Simon Gueller, who own and manage Box Tree Events were welcomed by David Lascelles, the 8th Earl of Harewood, on the State Floor of Harewood House where they will provide a variety … [Read more...]
Being accessible is good for your pub
The BBPA has published an essential guide on how to make pubs as accessible as possible, and the significant business benefits this brings. The guide has been given a warm welcome and a call to action from legendary Paralympian, Dame Tanni Grey Thompson, who has written the foreword. An open welcome - Why being accessible is good for your pub, is available on the BBPA … [Read more...]
Little Chef gets serious…about coffee
Little Chef has been busy in recent years transforming itself from over 200 struggling sites to just 90 with a very different offering. Now it has announced that it will partner with Lavazza to offer motorists quality Italian coffee served by highly trained barista staff. The partnership takes its hot beverage offering to a new level, and is designed to position Little Chef … [Read more...]
Battersea Power Station scheme will include hotel and reastaurants
The latest proposal for the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station by Real Estate Opportunities (REO) has finally got the go-ahead. The £5.5bn scheme to revamp the Battersea Power Station will include a hotel and several restaurants as well as an estimated 3,400 homes and 15,000 jobs. REO bought the Battersea Power Station 4 years ago for £400m, but the original … [Read more...]
London drives 2012 European hotel investment market
Hotel investment activity in EMEA slightly weakened in the first 6 months of 2012 when compared to the same period in 2011 according to Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. Hotel investment volumes totaled €3.7 billion, a 12% decline compared to sales volumes in the first half of 2011. The majority of transactions were single asset sales, accounting for 64% of total EMEA transaction … [Read more...]
Does Sunningdale deliver the best Pizza Express experience in England?
For the past 30 years or so I have enjoyed frequenting Pizza Express as the brand mostly delivers on its promise. Good food and good service at a fair price. Yesterday evening my wife and I went to our local Pizza Express in Sunningdale, recently refurbished and looking and feeling very chic. It was our 26th wedding anniversary yesterday and our three sons booked and pre … [Read more...]
Chef’s Restaurant of the Week, The Queens at Belbroughton
This week's Restaurant of the Week is The Queens at Belbroughton, West Midlands and courtesy of Great British Chefs Andy Waters helped put the Midlands on the gastronomic map when he won a Michelin star in 2003 for Edmunds. In March 2012, Andy became head chef of The Queens at Belbroughton, a 16th century pub in Worcestershire and has recently been awarded the … [Read more...]
Satisfactory trading for Marston’s
Marston’s reports satisfactory trading in the 42 weeks to 21 July 2012 despite the very wet weather conditions affecting summer trading to date: there has been continued progress across the business, and profitability is in line with expectations. In managed pubs, like-for-like sales for the 42 week period were 2.2% ahead of last year, including like-for-like food sales … [Read more...]
StayWell Hospitality Group to expand into UK
StayWell Hospitality Group (StayWell) has announced its expansion into the UK, and is working together with its strategic partner, Seven Capital, to identify suitable hotel development opportunities. StayWell's first UK hotel will be the Park Regis Birmingham for which StayWell has secured a 30 year long term management agreement. Due to open in 2014, Park Regis Birmingham … [Read more...]
Frequency of eating out on the increase
Eating out is proving a luxury that few people are willing to forgo according to Horizons’ latest QuickBite survey, conducted amongst 2,105 consumers in June 2012 by YouGov. Consumer confidence may still be low, but British adults are choosing to go out more often than they have done previously, the highest frequency since December 2010, with the average British adult … [Read more...]
VisitEngland Launches The Pink Book 2012: Legislation for Tourism Accommodation
VisitEngland, the national tourist board, has launched the latest version of The Pink Book - a comprehensive guide covering everything operators need to know about running an accommodation business - from obtaining entertainment and alcohol licences to food hygiene, and health and safety. Designed to help both self-catering and serviced accommodation providers navigate the … [Read more...]
Good news for hospitality industry from 10 million Brits
10.3 million Brits (21%of the adult population) plan to make the most of the summer (until the end of August) by taking at least one holiday or short break in the UK, with 8.9 million people (18%) planning to take that trip in England, according to VisitEngland’s Summer Trip Tracker. This is likely to generate some £2.3 billion in tourism spend for the UK economy, around … [Read more...]
London hotel bookings: final pre-Games update
Just two days before the Olympics opening ceremony, Travel Click reports that London hotel bookings are looking healthy with committed occupancy currently at an average of 80.4% over the Olympics period. The busiest night in the Capital so far during the Olympics is now Tuesday 31 July, which currently has a committed occupancy of 85.8%. With the men’s road cycling … [Read more...]
David Beckham tackled by Jamie Oliver over junk food
In a letter published in The Times Jamie Oliver has hit out at sporting heroes such as David Beckham and Gary Lineker who he says promote junk food. The letter, which was signed by Dr Hilary Cass, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the National Association of Head Teachers President Steve Iredale, Children's Food Campaign director Charlie … [Read more...]
Make time for what really matters with Kenco and Macmillan Cancer Support
Kenco has joined forces with Macmillan Cancer Support for the third year running to be the official coffee partner of Macmillan’s flagship fundraiser the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning 2012. This September, over 2.5 million people will be making time for what really matters and get together to host a coffee morning as part of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning, raising over … [Read more...]
Fast food: workers advice
Reddit.com is an online community that enables anyone who has anything interesting to say to potentially reach millions: ‘redditors’ vote on which stories are important so that the hottest rise to the top, and stay there. With 37.4 million unique visitors in June this year, there’s a lot of interest! Recently, ‘redditors’ who are fast food workers were invited to post … [Read more...]
