Britain’s pub and restaurant groups saw collective like-for-like sales grow 4.6% in March against the same month last year, according to latest figures from the Coffer Peach Business Tracker. Total sales, including the impact of new openings, were up 7.1% on this time last year. The results mark 12 consecutive months of positive growth for
The Only Way is Essex star and Sugar Hut boss Michael Norcross has acquired the Grand Hotel Leigh-on-Sea and has obtained planning permission to turn the property, closed since 2008, into a boutique hotel and restaurant. Bob Whittle, Director at Leisure Property Specialists Fleurets, handled the deal. Bringing the quality West End hotel experience to
People may have to travel further to ensure the best spending power of the pound, according to an economic report. As sterling hit its highest value in five years, the pound has risen in value by 30% against the Turkish lira since April last year. Other destinations offering attractive rates on holiday costs and spending
In response to current travel trends showing family holiday spend is significantly up this Easter, pre-school family travel specialist Baby Friendly Boltholes’ Founder, Sian William, believes several recent factors have led to a sudden shift in consumer behaviour. “We have seen a significant increase in the average holiday spend of young families holidaying this month,
Britain’s pub and restaurant groups saw collective like-for-like sales grow 4.6% in March against the same month last year, according to latest figures from the Coffer Peach Business Tracker. Total sales, including the impact of new openings, were up 7.1% on this time last year. The results mark 12 consecutive months of positive growth for the sector.
“Much of the increase can be put down to significantly better weather this March than last, when snow and freezing temperatures gripped the country, but that is only part of the story,” said Peter Martin of CGA Peach, the business insight consultancy that produces the Tracker, in partnership with Coffer Group, Baker Tilly and UBS.
The Only Way is Essex star and Sugar Hut boss Michael Norcross has acquired the Grand Hotel Leigh-on-Sea and has obtained planning permission to turn the property, closed since 2008, into a boutique hotel and restaurant. Bob Whittle, Director at Leisure Property Specialists Fleurets, handled the deal.
Bringing the quality West End hotel experience to Essex
Michael Norcross said: “I have long admired this iconic building and dreamed of rejuvenating it to reflect the original architecture. It has been my desire to bring the quality West End hotel experience to Essex and I see this building and its location as the perfect opportunity to achieve my dream.”
People may have to travel further to ensure the best spending power of the pound, according to an economic report.
As sterling hit its highest value in five years, the pound has risen in value by 30% against the Turkish lira since April last year.
Other destinations offering attractive rates on holiday costs and spending money over the past year include South Africa and Australia where £1 buys 26% more rand and 23% more Australian dollars.
The US and Canada are also relatively less expensive in sterling terms.
In response to current travel trends showing family holiday spend is significantly up this Easter, pre-school family travel specialist Baby Friendly Boltholes’ Founder, Sian William, believes several recent factors have led to a sudden shift in consumer behaviour.
“We have seen a significant increase in the average holiday spend of young families holidaying this month, which is up 34% compared with this time last year, with families spending an average of £1,383 on their accommodation (hotel or villa) this April compared with £1,039 last year.”
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has confirmed details of a new round of tests of beef products for horse meat contamination. The tests have been requested by the European Commission as part of the follow-up to last year’s horse meat incident where a number of beef products sold across Europe were found to have been deliberately adulterated with horse meat.
This new round of EU testing should give additional reassurance to consumers across Europe that the food chain is being checked for potential problems.
A survey has revealed that 4 in 10 Brits consider cost to be the most important factor when choosing a holiday. Over 36% of the respondents stated that cost is their top priority. This is clearly reflected in the number of holiday price comparison websites that are now on offer, as well as the range of travel companies that specifically specialise in last minute holidays and cheap deals.
The travel industry is fiercely competitive. Travel companies across the UK go head to head in an effort to provide potential consumers with something that their competitors are not.
In order to find out what the British public really wants when it comes to their next holiday, Holiday Gems has surveyed 1,000 people to ask ‘What’s the most important factor when you’re deciding where to go on holiday?’ The results were very revealing. The top five answers include cost, weather, destination, activities and accommodation.
A sausage created especially for Brakspear’s Bull on Bell Street has been awarded a medal in a Sausage and Pie competition, and to celebrate the pub is staging a Sausage Festival on Good Friday, offering the winning banger and other award-winning sausages to Henley residents.
The Brakspear Triple Banger, made using the brewery’s Triple Ale, is a collaboration with Rob Chasteauneuf, head chef at the Bull on Bell Street, and award-winning Hampshire butcher Alf Turner. It won an award at the Great Hampshire Sausage & Pie Competition for Young Butcher, Tom Morgan, who made the sausages for Alf Turner.
Tom Barnes, sous chef at Simon Rogan’s two Michelin-starred L’Enclume in Cartmel, Cumbria, has won the 2014 Roux Scholarship. He beat five other finalists who all prepared Chartreuse of quail and sweetbreads with grape sauce at the cook-off held at Westminster Kingsway College in London on April 14.
Barnes, who was a finalist in last year’s competition, battled against fellow chefs Scott Dineen from Goldman Sachs, London, (Baxterstorey); Sabrina Gidda, AIG Group, London, (Restaurant Associates); Richard Pascoe, Oulton Hall, West Yorkshire, (De Vere Hotels); David Salt, BNY Mellon, London, (Restaurant Associates); and David White, Barclays Wealth, London, (ISS).
The FSA has today announced an additional programme of priority testing of lamb dishes from takeaway restaurants across the UK following evidence of ongoing substitution of lamb for cheaper meats such as beef and chicken. Businesses could face prosecution if food is found to have been deliberately mislabelled.
An FSA review of local authority sampling data, from July to December 2013, found that 43 out of 145 samples of lamb takeaway meals contained meat other than lamb. In total, 25 of these samples were found to contain only beef. Other meat species identified included chicken and turkey. No samples were found to contain horse meat.
A poll* carried out for CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, showed that people in the UK are five times more likely to believe that wine is healthier to drink than beer. A survey of 1000 people showed that 67% thought wine drinking is most healthy, compared to only 13% for beer.
Professor Charles Bamforth of the University of California, Davis and author of Beer, Health and Nutrition1 said “The myth that wine is in some way healthier than other alcoholic drinks dates back many years to research carried out in France, a predominantly wine drinking country. This suggested that moderate wine drinkers were healthier than non-drinkers. The crucial point is that it was a comparison with non-drinkers. When similar studies 2 were carried out in the Czech Republic, a nation of beer drinkers, just the same protective effect was seen with beer. This study showed the lowest risk of heart attacks in men who drank “almost daily or daily” consuming between 7- 16 pints of beer a week.”
