Hotel bookings in Glasgow have increased by 200 per cent in the past four years, second only to London in the most popular list of shopping destination cities.
Hotel room rates in the UK fell by an average of 1 per cent to £82 in 2011 as hoteliers strove to fill rooms by discounting and refused to pass on the 2.5 per cent VAT increase to guests.
Dion Jones from Carden Park Country Hotel near Chester has won the junior section of the International Escoffier Challenge Grand Final after becoming only the first Welsh chef to represent Great Britain in the competition.
Brett Woonton, Charlie Young and Elena Ares, the team behind Vinoteca with sites in Farringdon and Marylebone, will open their third wine bar, dining room and wine shop at 53 to 55 Beak Street Soho in mid April.
Chefs from The Ritz and Loves Restaurant in Birmingham are among the six individuals who have earned a place in the final of the 2012 Roux Scholarship competition.
English Tourism Week, VisitEngland's promotional campaign designed to raise the profile and importance of domestic tourism and showcase the value of the industry to local communities and to the national economy, has drawn the support of Prince Charles,...
The British Hospitality Association, Travelodge and Whitbread are among a number of leading hospitality businesses and industry bodies that have united to urge the Government to slash the rate of VAT for the tourism sector to five per cent.
A UK benchmark into energy use in hotels is overdue as the results of the last similar study nearly two decades ago are now out of date, according to the managing director of hospitality energy consultants Hotel Energy.
A leading hotel operations director has warned of the ‘extreme difficulties’ that women face in the hospitality industry, claiming there is still a ‘macho culture’ that exists in the hotel sector.
Clare Smyth, head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, and Anna Hansen from The Modern Pantry are among chefs cooking for Girls Night Out; a three-night dinner in celebration of female talent organized by Angela Hartnett and Fiona Sims.
The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) chairman Keith Bott has called for policy makers to ‘give beer a break’ as he addressed delegates at the organisation’s annual conference yesterday in Stratford-upon-Avon.
JD Wetherspoon has revealed a rise in like-for-like sales of 2.1 per cent in the 26 weeks to 22 January 2012 but announced it is scaling back its planned pub openings for the financial year and remains cautious about future performance.
In a week that marks International Women’s Day, there is no one better placed to give her thoughts on life, her career and hospitality than Vivien Sirotkin. With over 30 years experience in the industry, Sirotkin - currently director of hotel operations...
Hotels, restaurants, pubs and bars including The Chester Grosvenor, The Draft House, The Dorchester and Ichi Sushi tell BigHospitality about special events and promotions they're running to attract new customers.
Restaurants and bars are being encouraged to team up with Transport for London (TfL) to promote offers and deals for workers travelling during the Olympics in order to ease the after work commute during London 2012.
The Big Event 2012, the evening fundraiser set up by Springboard and Hospitality Action to coincide with Hotelympia, has raised £80k for the two charities.
Use of a professional training kitchen and being given time off work to train will enable the UK to compete on a level playing field in the Bocuse d’Or for the first time ever according to candidate Adam Bennett.
Former Von Essen hotel Dalhousie Castle, near Edinburgh, has been bought out of administration for around £5m – half the price that Von Essen originally paid for the property in 2003.
Karen Forrester, managing director of TGI Friday’s in the UK, has been named Best Individual at this year’s Retailers’ Retailer of the Year Awards where Cote, Brasserie Blanc and Alex Reilley at Loungers were also winners.
When it comes to maximising drinks sales, beer has always stood in the shadow of higher GP wine and there has been little faith that diners would ever choose grape over grain. But, with a rise in the popularity of craft beers and a continuing surge in...
Richard Balfour-Lynn is to step down from his position as chief executive of MWB Group Holdings, the owner of Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, at the end of the month.
Women 1st has announced the nominating process has opened for the 2012 Women 1st Shine Awards which recognise outstanding female achievement in the hospitality industry.
The Government should encourage people to return to pubs and bars to drink if it is to control night-time violence caused as a result of alcohol, according to new research from the Institute for Health and Community at Plymouth University.
Michelin-starred Italian chef Bruno Barbieri has opened his first restaurant in the UK: Cotidie – offering modern Italian cuisine in London’s Marylebone High Street.
McCain Foodservice is giving chefs who are proud of the hand cut chips they make for their menus to pitch them against their own Gastro Chips range to see how they compare in terms of taste, appearance and operational efficiency.
Georgia-Pacific, which manufactures the Lotus Professional range of tissue products and dispensing systems, has launched the NexxStyle range of air-cushioned napkins which can be branded and customised by restaurants and hotels.
International Women's Day 2012 is celebrated on Thursday 8 March under the theme 'Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures'. Ahead of the event BigHospitality spoke to three leading women in hospitality to get their take on the industry approach...
A number of high-profile closures across the capital in recent months could be the first signs that London is no longer the recession-free zone many have considered it to be.
Volume sales of wine at restaurants, hotels and pubs fell 6 per cent in 2011, according to the latest Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) Market Report with spirit sales down slightly less at 2 per cent.
Simon Rogan, Nathan Outlaw and Aiden Byrne are among 24 of the UK’s top chefs preparing to take part in what is expected to be the last series of BBC Two’s Great British Menu this Spring.
The campaign set-up to lobby for a cut in VAT charged in hospitality businesses on drink, food and accommodation to 5% has redesigned its logo to represent a refocus for the campaign on the employment benefits a VAT boost to the industry could give the...
The British Hospitality Association (BHA) is urging hospitality businesses across the UK to support VisitEngland’s new campaign – Holidays at Home are GREAT.
Electrolux Professional has launched ecostore, a new range of refrigerated cabinets, which it said offer greater capacity and are 65 per cent more efficient at consuming energy than equivalent products available.
Hotels, restaurants, pubs and bars including Park Plaza County Hall, The Bingham, PizzaExpress and Holiday Inn have told BigHospitality about special events and promotions they’re running to attract new customers.
The Clink Charity has announced plans to expand and open a second prison restaurant before the end of the year with discussions ongoing between the charity and HMP Cardiff and HMP Prescoed, South Wales.
Accor is to open a 128-bed hotel as part of the refurbishment of the West 12 shopping centre in London’s Shepherd’s Bush; the first new UK opening since the rebranding of its entire economy offering under the Ibis name.
Gordon Ramsay has partnered with his Gordon Ramsay Holdings corporate executive US chef Andi Van Willigan to launch The Fat Cow, set to open this summer in Los Angeles.
A survey of UK consumers has found that restaurant service remains a more important factor than food pricing to drive whether diners make recommendations to friends and family or leave a restaurant early.
Lily Brierley, training manager at Enotria, explains how hospitality business owners can make their staff more aware of wine lists and encourage them to openly talk about wine with customers in a bid to maximise drinks sales.
The intense competition for prime city-centre restaurant sites is spreading rapidly into shopping centres across the UK, as landlords, established food concepts and emerging brands are increasingly recognising the potential of such high-footfall locations.
Rapidly-expanding gourmet burger chain Byron has been hailed as the fastest growing restaurant concept of the past six months having more than trebled its portfolio in the past three years.
Nick Tamblyn has a strong track record in both the business and operations side of running succesful bars; most recently as chief executive of Kornicis Group, which operates the Smollensky’s and Henry J Beans brands. Tamblyn has also worked for First...