They have been slammed by Caprice Holdings’ Richard Caring, strongly opposed by MPs and London Mayor Boris Johnson, and estimated to threaten over 5,000 local jobs. Now, over 15,000 West End workers and residents have united in signing petitions to halt...
Restaurants and bars in the UK should be prepared for an increase in mergers and acquisitions next year as successful chains look to cash in and buyers prepare for growth in 2013, according to a new report.
Thai restaurant The Blue Elephant has been forced to relocate from the site on Fulham’s Broadway that it has occupied for the past 25 years, to a new riverside site at Imperial Wharf, where it hopes to become the Thai version of the River Cafe.
Hotel Verta, the luxury London hotel formerly owned by Von Essen's Andrew Davis, has reportedly been bought by entertainment guru Simon Cowell's brother Nicholas and will be re-branded a Rhombus hotel.
Seasonal British food champion Mark Hix is to move away from his signature style at his latest venue - HIX Belgravia - to serve a menu with an international focus.
Orchid, the 290-strong food-led pub group, has released its own 2012 guide, featuring experts’ predictions of the trends, key issues and challenges facing the wider pub trade next year.
The majority of hoteliers believe business travellers to their hotels value free Wi-Fi or internet as the best way to enhance their visit, while 60 per cent think a 24-hour security or reception is what their business guests value the most.
The Craft Guild of Chefs has added Military Chef of the year to its category list for the 2012 Craft Guild of Chefs Awards, to recognise the individuals in charge of feeding the Armed Forces.
Bar and restaurant operator Novus Leisure has announced strong pre-Christmas sales, forecasting a record festive period driven by corporate parties and events.
A new stamp-based virtual loyalty scheme for use on smartphones has been developed with the aim of helping independent restaurateurs and retailers see customers return to their businesses more often.
Hotel Verta, the luxury Battersea hotel owned by former Von Essen managing director Andrew Davis, has been saved from administration, safeguarding the future of 75 jobs.
A new group led by industry veteran Peter Marks, who was formerly chief executive at Brook leisure and Sports Café, has completed the acquisition of nightclub operator Luminar out of administration in deal worth around £45m.
Marco Pierre White’s restaurant at The Swann Inn in Aughton, Lancashire, has been sold and will close for three months on 2 January, before re-opening as a Mitchells & Butlers pub.
Hotels across the UK are ramping up their tariffs over the New Year’s weekend, with Edinburgh hotels charging almost three times more for a one-night stay in a standard double room.
With plans for a significant increase in business rates as of April 2012, business rates specialists CVS is seeing an increasing demand for its services.
With an estimated 20 million TV viewers for this weekend’s X-Factor final, London-based high-end food delivery service Deliverance has revealed that it is one of the biggest dates of the year for the food delivery market.
Seven hotels from the Von Essen Hotels portfolio have been sold to Halcyon Hotels and Resorts at a guide price of £40.5m in what is the largest package sale since the company fell into administration.
Byron Lang has been head maitre d' at Gordon Ramsay Holdings' The Savoy Grill since it re-opened for business in 2010. He started his hospitality career at The Ivy before going on to work for Jeremy Corbin and Chris King at The Wolseley and...
Euro-Colombian start-up company Juna has launched a new range of fruit drinks with high vitamin, protein and fibre content aimed at the foodservice sector.
Restaurants, hotels and bars from across the UK, including Andaz Liverpool Street, Dukes London, Vista at The Trafalgar and Bentley’s Oyster& Grill, tell BigHospitality about special events and promotions they’re running to attract more customers.
Former Little Chef chief executive Ian Pegler has revealed his top tips for turning ailing businesses around after saving the roadside restaurant chain and his latest project, events venue Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire, from failure.
The proposed night-time parking charges for London’s West End will cost businesses in the area £800m a year and threaten over 5,000 jobs, a study has found.
Employers within the hospitality industry are being urged to do more to recruit young people at both graduate and non-graduate level after a survey of recent university graduates found that more than a third are disappointed with the levels of responsibility...
The perfect storm of the financial crisis, high rates of VAT and planning delays took its toll on the hotel sector in 2011, with 36 per cent fewer hotel rooms opening than predicted at the start of the year.
Pub operators are awaiting a ‘crucial’ decision from HM Revenue & Customs over the rate of tax applied on gaming machines, following the announcement that they will be split into two bands.
Nelson Hotels, the family-owned, Cheshire-based hotel group has bought The Fishpool Inn in Delamere, with plans for a £1m refurbishment of the property to transform it into a gastropub.
The price of bottom end freehold pubs has fallen by 3.2 per cent nationally and 11.6 per cent in the north of England, according to Fleurets’ latest annual survey of pub prices.
On Monday it confirmed the sale of The Marylebone Bar in what is one of the biggest tied-lease deals of the year, and earlier in the year it quit running the White Horse pub in Harpenden. Now, pub and restaurant operator Urban & Country Leisure (UCL)...
Two restaurateurs from Edinburgh have been detained by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on suspicion of failing to pay tax, as part of the on-going taskforce operation targeting restaurants across Scotland.
Corporate catering company Bubble Food has launched a new festive menu featuring an innovative ‘molecular’ selection of food and drink, available to hospitality businesses planning a Christmas party.
Reviews website TripAdvisor has angered some members of the industry who feel the website does not do enough to protect businesses who find themselves victims of false or defamatory reviews.
Two childhood friends opened their first restaurant on a whim. Seventeen years on, Le Bistrot Pierre provides timely lessons in delivering value in the middle market.
Italian chain Ask is rolling out a new look and a more authentic food and drink offer across its 123-strong estate following a successful trial of the revamp in select locations.
As Molson Coors launches a sampling campaign for Animée, its new low-calorie beer range designed for women, master beer sommelier Mark Stroobandt believes many brewers and pub operators are ‘getting it wrong’ when it comes to attracting the female beer-drinking...
Caprice Holdings chairman Richard Caring has revealed plans to bring Thomas Keller's Bouchon restaurant concept to the UK as well as considerably increase the number of Soho House branches in operation across the world.
Contract caterer Elior has partnered with Starwood to manage the food and beverage operations at the FEDE restaurant in the first UK-based Aloft hotel at London’s Excel.
Saffron Restaurant Group, which has two sites in the West Midlands and one in London, has opened an Indian fine dining restaurant in the heart of Birmingham’s city centre.
Ex-DJ and Apple executive Martin Morales has confirmed the location of his first Peruvian restaurant Ceviche which he plans to open in early March 2012.
Pub and restaurant operator Urban & Country Leisure (UCL) has today confirmed the sale of The Marylebone Bar in what is one of the biggest tied-lease deals of the year.
Peckforton Castle, the Cheshire hotel, wedding, conference and events venue, has reacted to the admission of guilt by groom Max Kay to starting the fire which caused £6m worth of damage in June this year.
The majority of hoteliers believe that the sector will realise a sustained upturn in 2012, while 82 per cent believe a hotels most important business priority over the next six months should be to step up its marketing activities.
News that those working in Westminster after 6.30pm will be given a discounted rate when parking charges are extended into the evening and weekends next year comes as no comfort or relief to businesses or employees say critics of the scheme.
In spite of the current economic crisis, UK consumers are going out to eat and drink and restaurants and pubs even more than before, according to the latest Taste of the Nation survey conducted by Deloitte.
Le Cafe Anglais chef-patron Rowley Leigh has partnered with cinema chain Odeon and UCI to provide an up-market menu to be served to movie-goers at its new boutique style cinema at Whiteleys.
Richard Corrigan has launched an innovative new menu celebrating ‘forgotten foods’ at his Corrigan’s Mayfair restaurant in a bid to promote the ethics of the increasingly-popular Slow Food UK Chef Alliance.
London-based tea blender and coffee roaster Drury has added a special spiced Christmas blend to its pyramid-shaped teabag range to enable hotels, restaurants and pubs to enhance their beverage menus for the festive season.
Pub industry bodies have slammed the Government over its persistent reluctance to protect publicans from mistreatment by large pub companies under the new, self-policed pub industry framework code of practice.