Britain’s restaurants and hotels are too expensive and lack quality compared to the rest of Europe, and will ultimately drive Britons abroad for their holidays this year.
London restaurants will be the first target for a new round of tax enforcement measures, under plans announced today by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to tackle tax dodgers.
Caffè Culture, the trade show for café and bar operators, is preparing to open its doors to industry next week, providing a chance to meet key suppliers and gather tips on managing successful coffee-based operations.
The nightclub operator Luminar has said its business has been hit by high youth unemployment and lower disposable incomes, which contributed to the group making a loss of over £1m in the last financial year.
The Irish government has announced a 4.5 per cent cut in VAT on tourism-related goods and services as part of efforts to support the sector and promote employment.
The UK’s tourist agency VisitBritain has released preliminary figures from a marketing study from the Royal Wedding, and has said it hopes to continue to engage the additional international web users who joined its online communities during the event.
Usually kicking off on the first public holiday in May, the cider season began early this year with the celebration of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s royal wedding in April.
Serial investor Luke Johnson has acquired an undisclosed share of The Bread Factory owner Bread Ltd, and plans to expand the group’s London-based bakery and café concept Gail’s by five sites this year.
Premier Inn has developed a ‘floating bedroom’ design for its new Leicester Square hotel, which is designed to block out noise by isolating each room in its own independent box.
Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurant chain has come under fire after a series of hygiene failings and suspected food poisoning cases were uncovered by food safety inspectors.
Hoteliers across the UK say business is looking up, with the majority of general managers expecting an increase in sales of both corporate and leisure hotel stays in the second quarter of this year.
Frank Dowling, the entrepreneur behind Inc Group, the London-based bar and restaurant group, is launching a chain of members’ clubs under new company, the Alphabet Group.
Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal is looking for an up and coming apprentice chef to create a signature menu for all British Airways (BA) flights flying into and out of London in the run up to and during the 2012 Olympic Games.
Melbourne-based café/restaurant group St. Ali has launched its first UK site in Clerkenwell with plans to roll the brand out alongside a smaller coffee shop concept.
Hunstrete House near Bath has gone into creditors voluntary liquidation after the administrators of Von Essen Hotels terminated the licensing agreement with its operator.
The UK hotel industry is continuing to turn around a steady performance despite continuing market pressures, although experts predict the rest of the year will be “less settled” as a result of global issues.
E-procurement can be quite daunting for businesses used to traditional telephone ordering. But with an open mind and the right know-how to overcome the challenges, e-procurement can have great benefits for your business. Christian Berthelsen, CTO at Fourth...
Last October Mark Jankel and Jun Tanaka took to the streets of London in an Airstream van to serve fresh, British food inspired by Jankel’s project The Food Initiative over the course of two weeks. Street Kitchen was run as part of the London Restaurant...
Legacy Hotels and Resorts has taken over the management contract of Great Hallingbury Manor Hotel in Bishop’s Stortford, and is to prepare the business for sale over the coming months.
Lisa Allen of Northcote Manor, Anirudh Arora of Moti Mahal and Sudha Shankar Saha of Saffron are amongst 40 chefs nominated in the shortlist for the 2011 Craft Guild of Chefs Awards.
The British public is turning its attention from the Easter break and onto the Royal Wedding this coming weekend, with two-thirds expecting to order a commemorative drink in a restaurant or pub to toast the couple.
Von Essen Hotels Ltd, the holding company of the 28-strong luxury hotel group, has gone into administration after failing to meet its debt repayment schedule.
Restaurant operator Richoux Group has said its start-up Zippers and Dean’s Diner brands have been earmarked for their growth potential, but it will be taking a “measured” approach to their development while it asses their suitability for a wider roll-out.
Russell Norman, former operations director at Caprice Holdings, has achieved critical acclaim with his first three restaurants Polpo, Polpetto and Spuntino, opened with business partner Richard Beatty. The pair are now on the verge of opening their fourth...
Hotel chain Premier Inn says that after just three months of launching a smartphone application it is now seeing over 5 per cent of all hotel bookings made on mobile phones, a figure it expects will double in the near future.
While just four UK restaurants featured on the S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list this year, a further six venues fell just short of making the top 50.
International visitors to London spent close to £9bn in the capital last year, with tourist numbers at a four-year high compared to the gloomier picture in the rest of the country.
In 2010, former Maze executive chef Jason Atherton decided to run a pop-up in a disused Caffé Uno in Mayfair, to raise funds for homelessness charity Street Smart. The venue, which ran for just two days, was entirely funded by donations, and raised over...
With just hours to go until the S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, tune in to BigHospitality on Facebook and Twitter for live updates, photos and gossip as the awards unfold.
With 45 per cent of all hotel bookings currently made on the internet, it is more important than ever for hotels to optimise their online presence. Sam Trainor-Buckingham, marketing director at Ignite Hospitality tells BigHospitality readers how they...
Radisson Edwardian Hotels has introduced QR codes on its menus, which customers can scan with their smartphones to view a video of the dish being prepared.
