23-Jun-2009 By Ewan Turney
Established managed, branded pub and restaurant chains are holding off stiff competition from supermarkets and tightening consumer spending with...
Customers still tip for great service, survey shows
15-Jun-2009 By Matt Eley Matt
The recession is hitting customers in the wallet but they are still prepared to tip for top service. A survey of 12,300 pub and restaurant customers...
Tips and Troncs: The law on tipping and troncs is changing. Make sure you don't get caught out
05-Jun-2009
TroncsHarry's Bar is one of many clubs that operate the 'tronc' system. A 'tronc' is an arrangement to collect and distribute service charges, tips...
Tied tenants to lobby MPs today
20-May-2009 By Matt Eley Matt
Scores of MPs are expected to discuss the pubco model with tied tenants at an event at Parliament today. Hundreds of tied tenants from across the UK...
20-May-2009 By Ewan Turney
Around 200 tied pub tenants are due to descend on Westminster today to lobby MPs for support to change the pubco model. The Lobby Day, organised by...
Minimum wage to rise in October
12-May-2009
The National Minimum Wage is to rise 7p to £5.80 an hour from October 1, the government confirmed today. At the same time the Youth Development Rate...
12-May-2009 By Gemma McKenna
Minimum wage will rise by 7p to £5.80 an hour from October, the Government announced today. The rate for 18 to 21-year-olds will go up by 6p to...
06-May-2009 By Ewan Turney
Using tips to make up staff pay to minimum wage levels will be outlawed from October this year, the Government announced today. The Government said...
Unfair top-up tips to be banned
06-May-2009
The practice of using tips to boost staff pay to minimum wage levels will be outlawed from October this year, the government has announced.The move...
Hamish Champ: Would the Tories do a better job for the pub trade?
27-Apr-2009 By Hamish Champ
Alistair Darling's Budget speech was painfully short on positive news for the pub industry and long on its ability to induce incredulity in all those...
Tories: "We're unlikely to legislate on supermarket pricing
24-Apr-2009 By Hamish Champ
A future Conservative government would be unlikely to force supermarkets to raise the price at which they sold alcohol, a senior shadow minister...
19-Feb-2009 By Tony Halstead
Hands off our tips — that was the message from bar and restaurant staff at a demonstration in Parliament. The protest aimed to urge the Government...
26-Jan-2009 By Ewan Turney
A rise in minimum wage to £6.10 would cost thousands of jobs, the British Chambers of Commerce has warned. The Trade Unions Congress (TUC) recently...
Tips are a taxing topic
01-Dec-2008
The Government has released its long-awaited consultation document regarding proposed changes to the way in which the hospitality industry treats...
20-Nov-2008 By Tony Halstead
A trade leader has called on the Low Pay Commission to scale back its recommendations for next year's minimum wage award. Brigid Simmonds, chief...
Hamish Champ: The National Minimum Wage. Useful socio/economic tool or commercial burden?
06-Oct-2008 By Hamish Champ
Last week I received an email newsletter from the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) which caught my eye. Not literally, you...
03-Oct-2008 By Ewan Turney
The Government could set a minimum price for alcohol without breaching competition law — that's the view of Labour MP Sally Keeble who hopes to win...
01-Oct-2008 By Ewan Turney
Around 20 new pieces of legislation come into effect today including minimum wage hike and the requirement for EPCs.
Minimum wage increase could threaten jobs
01-Aug-2008 By Matt Eley Matt
Further increases to the minimum wage could put jobs in the pub sector under threat, according to a trade body. To coincide with the 10th anniversary...
Whitbread: All tips go to staff
01-Aug-2008
Whitbread has defended its record on service charges in the wake of the government's call for pubs and restaurants to distribute all tips to...
31-Jul-2008 By John Harrington
Labour Party plans to extend the full adult minimum wage to 21-year-olds will hit pubs hard, trade experts warn. Ministers also announced plans to...
31-Jul-2008 By John Harrington
Tips will no longer be able to count towards minimum wage payments — and employers are "encouraged" to make it clear to customers where their tips go in a fundamental shake-up of laws.
'Upping wages with tips to stop'
31-Jul-2008
The government will announce today that it will close the loophole allowing restaurants to use tips and service charges to bring salaries to the...
Government to ban 'tip top-ups' to minimum wage
31-Jul-2008
Pubs and restaurants are to be banned from using tips to bring staff salaries up to the minimum wage level.However, industry representatives have...
Independent launches fair tips campaign
15-Jul-2008 By Lucy Britner
The Independent has launched a campaign to improve the treatment of the country's 231,845 waiters and waitresses - and ensure that customers know...
'Low wage firms face fines blitz'
14-Jul-2008
Rogue bosses who fail to pay the minimum wage will face unlimited fines, ministers will announce today. A new Bill will also force bosses, who...
Battle for fair tips goes to Parliament
10-Jul-2008 By Ewan Turney ewan.turney@william-reed.co.uk
Unite petition urges tightening of the law Waiters and waitresses took their fight for fair tips to Parliament this week. Trade union Unite has...
07-Jul-2008 By Ewan Turney
Waiters and waitresses will today take their fight for fair tips to Parliament. Trade Union Unite has launched a petition calling on the Government...
Fair tips protest moves to Parliament
07-Jul-2008
The union-backed fair tips campaign has been taken to Parliament, with waiting staff calling on the government to change the law to stop tips and...
Tips no longer part of wage
19-Jun-2008
Another long-running legal saga appears to have been resolved last Friday when the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that tips from customers paid...
Your say
12-Jun-2008
Conflict of opinion on system open to abuse With reference to Clive Williams's article in the 29 May issue of the Morning Advertiser, has he got it...
23-May-2008 By The PMA Team
Marston's warns of unprecedented food cost inflation on the way
Licensees urged to be fair on tips
22-May-2008
Licensees are under renewed pressure to ensure tips are shared fairly among staff. A new campaign from union Unite and The Daily Mirror asks...
24-Apr-2008 By Ewan Turney
ALMR says the Government's plan to get it off the hook over its 10p tax rate fiasco, will increase pub closures
22-Apr-2008 By Ewan Turney
Trade Union calls for an end to the practice of using tips to pay the minimum wage
Staff should get all their tips, says union
18-Apr-2008
Trade union Unite is targeting high-street food operators with a campaign to close legal 'loopholes' which allow operators to include tips when...
Back to Basics: Your strategy for survival
28-Mar-2008
If the doom-mongers and economists are to be believed 2008 is set to be the most challenging year financially in more than a decade for individuals...
'Drinks companies bracing themselves for Budget duty rises'
06-Mar-2008
Drinks companies are bracing themselves for rises in alcohol duties in next week's Budget, amid calls from a senior government health adviser for...
05-Mar-2008 By Ewan Turney
The National Minimum Wage is to increase from £5.52 to £5.73 an hour in October. The Youth Development Rate will also increase from £4.60 to...
Minimum wage campaign hits the road
16-Jan-2008
Pubs and other businesses in the hospitality industry are the target of a new government campaign aimed at rooting out cases of employees being paid...
Minimum wage crackdown in store
11-Dec-2007
Rogue employers who dodge paying the minimum wage face a new crackdown under a government campaign.The Department for Business, Enterprise and...
The truth about troncs
24-Oct-2007
In the latest instalment of the troncs saga, an employment tribunal has ruled that tips paid to employees count towards the minimum wage. To update...
27-Sep-2007
Mitchells & Butlers has reported an increase in like-for-like sales since the smoking ban was introduced. The company also said it would press on...
MyShout
20-Sep-2007
It's about time the industry recognised the vital role played by multiple retailers, says Nick Bish When I opened last week's MA I was both delighted...
17-Sep-2007
Licensing consultant warns hosts of imminent changes to the law which will affect their business
02-Aug-2007 By The PMA Team
Wales's biggest brewer and retailer, SA Brain, has reported a slowdown in growth after a very challenging year. The company has reported a drop in...
18-Jul-2007
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon said it believes pubs have become 'more attractive to the majority of customers' after smoking was banned on July 1. In a...
19 Rob Hayward chief executive, British Beer & Pub Association (19) Nick Bish chief executive, Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (19) Mark Hastings director of communications, British Beer & Pub Association (new entry)
31-May-2007
Why they are on the list: Bish and Hayward remain two of the trade's key lobbyists and there's been no let up in their activity over the past year....
Blair's red-tape pub trade legacy
03-May-2007
As Prime Minister Tony Blair prepares to step down after a decade at the top, Nigel Huddleston talks to the trade about his time in office Tony...
Severe failure rate for pubs
26-Apr-2007
Pubs, bars and restaurants are three times more likely to go bust than any other business, a new survey has revealed. A study of 150,000 business...