BigHospitality Business Advice

BigHospitality at Hotelympia 2012

Peter.Ruddick@wrbm.com (Peter Ruddick) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:15:06 +0100

Hotelympia kicks off on Sunday at the ExCel centre for five days (26 February-1 March) of awards, product launches, chef demonstrations and more. As a media partner, BigHospitality will be there reporting on all the news as well as providing exclusive interviews, videos and audio.

Portsmouth landlady wins High Court battle with the Premier League

Peter.Ruddick@wrbm.com (Peter Ruddick) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:28:57 +0100

Karen Murphy, the Portsmouth landlady who was convicted in 2006 for showing foreign TV coverage of English Premier League matches in her pub using a decoder, has had her conviction quashed by the High Court.

Jamie Oliver acquires Covent Garden Market Building site

Peter.Ruddick@wrbm.com (Peter Ruddick) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:26:11 +0100

Jamie Oliver has acquired a site in the Covent Garden Market Building that was occupied by a pop-up restaurant from British chain Canteen. It is understood the celebrity chef is likely to open a Union Jacks on site, or alternatively a Jamie's Italian concept.

Young's to sell 14 freehold pubs

Emma.Eversham@wrbm.com (Emma Eversham) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:49:42 +0100

London-based brewer and pub operator Young's is selling off 14 freehold pubs from its estate to free up cash for investment in its managed estate.

London's Cafe Royal to re-open as luxury hotel this summer

Emma.Eversham@wrbm.com (Emma Eversham) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 23:06:17 +0100

Former bar and conference venue Cafe Royal is set to re-open its doors as a 159-bedroom luxury hotel in June following three years of restoration and building work.

Reviews site Qype removes thousands of misleading posts

Peter.Ruddick@wrbm.com (Peter Ruddick) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 02:09:01 +0100

The consumer reviews website Qype has removed over two thousand ‘fake’ posts in the last month, just weeks after an Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ban on TripAdvisor from suggesting its reviews were ‘honest, real or trusted’.

Offers invited on 200-bed Glasgow hotel development opportunity

Peter.Ruddick@wrbm.com (Peter Ruddick) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:15:43 +0100

A Glasgow development opportunity in the Collegelands district of the city which will provide for a hotel of up to 200 bedrooms is being marketed by Christie + Co, on behalf of developer Dawn Group.

Oldham council considers plans for hospitality training academy

Emma.Eversham@wrbm.com (Emma Eversham) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:14:40 +0100

Oldham council is planning to build a hotel and hospitality training academy in the town which it believes could become a blueprint for more academies across the UK in the future.

The Restaurant Experience: The world’s first interactive restaurant

Luke.Nicholls@wrbm.com (Luke Nicholls) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:10:48 +0100

TV chefs John Burton-Race and Jonathon Davies have partnered to create The Restaurant Experience – an innovative interactive restaurant, chosen by the people for the people.

PwC: Record year for London hotels but post-Olympics hangover could benefit the regions

Peter.Ruddick@wrbm.com (Peter Ruddick) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:09:32 +0100

2012 is set to be a record year for occupancy in London hotels but the situation after the Olympics will remain difficult although hotels in the regions may benefit in 2013, according to latest forecasts from Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC).

Beer tax hikes threaten jobs of 300,000 young people, says BBPA

Luke.Nicholls@wrbm.com (Luke Nicholls) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:29:45 +0100

A new report commissioned by the British Beer& Pub Association (BBPA) shows that 300,000 young people are directly employed in the beer and pub industry, fuelling concerns that plans for huge beer tax hikes in next month’s budget will put more young people out of work.

JD Wetherspoon founder among speakers at the 20th anniversary ALMR conference

Peter.Ruddick@wrbm.com (Peter Ruddick) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:10:02 +0100

Tim Martin, the founder of JD Wetherspoon, is among the pub and bar industry personalities headlining the annual Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) conference in May celebrating the organisation’s 20th anniversary.

Great Hotels of the World reports huge increase in MICE enquiries for 2012

Luke.Nicholls@wrbm.com (Luke Nicholls) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:58:04 +0100

Great Hotels of the World, the London-based hotel sales and marketing alliance, has reported a 50 per cent increase in meetings, incentives, conference and events (MICE) enquires in 2011, illustrating growth in the MICE travel market for UK hotels.

Accor reveals global hotel energy usage with environmental footprint release

Peter.Ruddick@wrbm.com (Peter Ruddick) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:43:17 +0100

International hotel operator Accor has revealed the group consumes more than 18bn kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy, ahead of a spring publication of a new sustainable development strategy for the company.

InterContinental Hotels Group announces 3,000 UK jobs to be created over three years

Peter.Ruddick@wrbm.com (Peter Ruddick) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:42:58 +0100

Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza operator, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), has announced it is to create nearly 3,000 UK jobs over the next three years, with more than 1,000 coming in 2012 as the operator launches the IHG Academy in Newham, London.

Pan Chai and Mango Tree restaurants to open at Harrods

Luke.Nicholls@wrbm.com (Luke Nicholls) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:45:19 +0100

Southeast Asian restaurant Pan Chai and Thai restaurant Mango Tree are set to open sites at London department store Harrods this April.

Kitchen Equipment: Top chefs reveal their must-have kitchen kit

Peter.Ruddick@wrbm.com (Peter Ruddick) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:28:44 +0100

In the latest instalment of our Kitchen Equipment Special Feature we asked chefs working in pub, restaurant and hotel kitchens to tell us the one bit of kit they couldn't live without and we filmed three of them showing us exactly what made the equipment special.

Kitchen Equipment: When its time to replace or invest in key items

Emma.Eversham@wrbm.com (Emma Eversham) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:22:23 +0100

Installing a completely new kitchen is great if you have the funds and the time to do it, but for many, a dream kitchen can remain just that.

BII 2012 Licensee of the Year: Semi-finalists revealed

Luke.Nicholls@wrbm.com (Luke Nicholls) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:13:29 +0100

The British Institute of Innkeeping has revealed the 21 semi-finalists for its 2012 Licensee of the Year Awards.

‘We were a great pub’: The Devonshire Arms in Chiswick closes in first year

Luke.Nicholls@wrbm.com (Luke Nicholls) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:14:06 +0100

The Devonshire Arms – Gordon Ramsay’s failed pub in Chiswick, London – has closed with immediate effect having only re-opened under new ownership in July last year.