Drinks Industry News

Shorts
Saving Stoke pubs, Draught Super Bock, Bondi comes to Whitby and more in CGA’s weekly instalment of news, views and gossip.

September set to be a fishy month
September looks like being a bad month for fish but a good one for pub-food, with Seafood fortnight taking place between 5th and 31st September. Previously the promotional event only took place over one week.

June 2008

• Shorts: Late starts in Wakefield, TSB becomes Loch Fyne, Bar Show snippets
• New Drinks
• Shorts: Caribbean lunch buffet, Forest Ales, facelift for Fern
• Costa donates Saturday’s profits to coffee making communities
• Fuller’s bolstered by food and off-trade sales
• Shorts: Venues revived and renamed, Bays brews in Torquay, Bulmers Light
• New drinks’ round up
• Diageo sponsor Lions, Wetherspoons celebrate Tigers
• Shorts: Exeter’s preferred ciders, Chicago shack, rocking in Nottingham

May 2008

• Orchid gives a helping hand to Fathers and trees
• Shorts: Derby’s new cinema, Blue Aftershock, Halifax nightlife
• Britvic’s fizzy drink sales flatter than still drink sales
• SABMiller finds geographical diversity to be a strong mix
• Shorts: openings in Exeter, cider flavours, Manchester clears up
• Whitbread unveils new concept of a restaurant for all occasions
• Tiger Beer draughted in, Everards' chocolate, Jade Jagger's dagger
• Shorts: Nottingham ghosts, Bulmers Pear selling well, CGA wine report
• Diageo grows while Stella gives consolation to InBev
• Shorts: New clubs for Derby and Chester, food sales, real ale in Southampton
• Pernod grows throughout the globe

April 2008

• Whitbread toasts financial year and anticipates future growth.
• Shorts: Revoked licence, vegan café, C2 popular with drivers
• Punch cooks with charcoal, to help beat smoking ban
• Is the British pub in terminal decline? By ‘The Week’
• Marston’s, Hook Norton, Beam Global and Adnams refresh their selections
• Shorts: Pub parrot, fake i.d, rotating cask ales
• Tyrrells’ founder believes potato-vodka will appeal
• Shorts: Smokers' TV, responsible sponsorship, closures, new names
• Greene King’s seasonal selection and Marston's new cricket beer
• Appletiser adds Fruitiser to the bowl
• Shorts: Byron in Kensington, Green Beer, Cornish Ales
• Halewood and Gaymers branch out cider selection

March 2008

• Carlsberg and Heineken get 99% shareholder approval for S&N takeover
• Pernod bolsters premium profile with Absolut acquisition
• Shorts: Warehouse parties in Long Eaton, Out & Out to Beefeater, Newark jazz
• Whitbread makes it a thousand Costas with Moscow opening
• Shorts: New star in East London, Wetherspoons festival, thirsty archaeologists
• InBev and Chang send winners to New York and Thailand
• Shorts: Challenge 21 in Mansfield, Angel’s noise problems, busy Saturdays in Wales
• Booze Budget 2008
• Tiger and Wadworth celebrate the sea but would Sir Walter approve?
• Wetherspoon’s cautious as Tim Martin talks of cultural drinking problem
• Shorts: Bath beer festival, opening of Blake’s , Beefeater for Birmingham
• InBev, Pernod, Whitbread and Magners report mixed fortunes
• Shorts: Charging by the clock, mobile Guinness, new Royal in Derby

February 2008

• InBev, Global Brands and others refresh their selection
• Shorts: Atomic Kitten, thrirteen Cookhouses, icy cider
• S&N gives price warning in swansong presentation
• Whitbread book Lenny Henry for Premier Inn campaign
• Shorts: Disaronno Amaretto, Bristol Beer Factory, picking between pears
• Guinness advert works its magic but Asia is best for Diageo
• S&N consult with 360 employees after brewery closure announcement
• Punch takeover of M&B still a city talking point
• Shorts: Prince William crowns Strongbow, Mailbox gets a cube, ID scanners
• Cains gets some cultural help from Sgt. Pepper's friend
• Shorts: Sunday morning clubbing, Grolsch Blond, organic wines
• Companies get into shape ahead of challenging year

January 2008

• Shorts: Cider sales, Heaven expands, Oceana’s rooms of the world
• Pernod’s profits expanded by Eastern growth
• Carlsberg and Heineken take control of Scottish & Newcastle
• Wickwar and Wold Top reap awards
• Wetherspoon sales cool despite a million coffees and teas
• Luminar profits from older dancers
• Shorts: last days of historic pub, snuffing out the smoking ban, Waggle Dance
• S&N and Carlsberg discuss 800p offer
• Magners warns full year sales will lack bite
• Punch confident of holding steady
• Diageo and Greene King urge rugby attack
• Shorts: Underground cider, Oranjeboom proves fruitful, a human right to tobacco
• Restaurant Group ready for spending squeeze

December 2007

• Heineken refreshes with Belarus acquisition
• Shorts: Victorian binge drinkers, minimum price proposal, giant igloo
• Shepherd Name and Fuller's give out Christmas supplies
• Halewood gets ready to unload Tsingtao
• Shorts: Kro spreads its wings, Derby staff shortage, Merlin Magic
• Whitbread opens Russian front for Costa Coffee
• Marston’s aims to expand drinker’s minds
• Shorts: NASA Technology, new German beer , Widness rocks
• S&N/Carlsberg dispute in arbitration, as Thwaites swallow LCL Pils
• ‘Summer drinks’ get Christmas campaigns
• Shorts: Pomegranates in Edinburgh, OK Karaoke in Leeds, Martha’s refurb

November 2007

• Whitbread fire starting gun for Beijing Costas
• S&N enjoy fruitful trading despite problems in France
• M&B order investigation after ‘supplier-sweatshop’ allegations
• Shorts: Chilling out in St Ives, tea infusions, circus in Liverpool
• CGA in the News
• Diageo puts Pimms in a pot
• Shorts: Flavoured Kronenbourg, renewable pub, Christmas brews
• SAB Miller continue to benefit from Polish migration
• S&N block Carlsberg’s “wholly inadequate” bid
• InBev results dragged back by UK performance
• Shorts: Fried scorpions, watching the brewers , Factory moves to Paradise
• Guinness takes its advertising to new heights
• Wetherspoon and Punch hopeful about non-smoking future
• Adnams and Hook Norton add brews to Christmas list
• Sovio semi-sparkling isn’t a wine, according to standards agency
• Shorts: Wetherspoon queues, Plymouth’s new Shisha bar, aftershocks

October 2007

• Pernod's first quarter boosted by emerging markets
• Aspall and Wychwood work to keep pace with growth
• Pilsner Urquell help put photographers in the spotlight
• Shorts: Beer bobbing, joy for Doombar, Kingly prices
• S&N find Baltic to be a hot property
• Chang Beer rides into UK pubs
• Shorts: Hereford enjoys the red stuff, apology to the Tartan Army, The Terminator
• Bavarian Gold hides its light
• Costa and Premier Inn spearhead Whitbread expansion
• Slimline RTD takes first steps in on trade
• Shorts: Lollipops go north, Birmingham burgers, fish cocktail
• Magners forced to squeeze cost base
• Bulmers Pear comes out in November
• Shorts: Bad signs on Broad Street, Pitcher V Que Pasa, life in Lincoln
• Shepherd Neame encouraged after first summer of the smoking ban
• Kopparbrerg and Thatchers give cider-drinkers new options
• Shorts: Bijou in Bristol, party in Paris, Jagermeister machine in Dawlish

September 2007

• San Miguel and Becks cultivate a taste for contemporary art
• InBev rolls out cinematic Stella site
• Shorts: Rocking in Rotherham, Kronenbourg food vouchers, popular pears
• Pernod predicts growth after dynamic year
• St Austell sponsor rugby, Thwaites go steady with blonde
• Shorts: C2 for 1p, take-away beer, big screen nintendo
• Wetherspoon wary on smoking ban, Punch downcast by weather
• Shorts: Facebook grapevine, morning Walkabout, ID scanners.
• French owners defend new look for Scottish dram
• Greene King fares better than Café Rouge in the rain
• Shorts: Eau de tobacco, new bite from Kobra, Factoberfest.

August 2007

• Diageo raises 2008 target and rolls out the ‘Red Stuff’
• Whitbread sales rise
• S&N draught in over-ice Bulmers
• Shorts: mystery Local Hero, gastro-cocktails, riverside development
• JW Lees brings Bohemian brew to UK
• Shorts: Rose in Northampton, Pigs’ on the bar, babes in the urinal
• Rankin and Hoggard spin out new beers
• Shorts: advertising mirrors, soaring strawberry sales, post-ban food increase
• CGA in the News
• S&N calls on Russia to save it from the rain
• M&B postpone joint venture with R20
• Shorts: New spirits at Holiday Inn, winkle eating, MacKenzie's make-over
• Magners forecast dampened by rain and competition

July 2007

• Whisky to be distilled in England once more
• Diageo compensated by Guinness growth in Africa
• Shorts: Canadian import problems, Bristol magic, Honiton’s vodkas
• Pernod sees organic growth across the globe
• Hydes brews up a 50% profit increase
• JDW pick-up after slow withdrawal from smoking
• Shorts: stars in Newcastle, Blackthorns sponsor Bristol, Swindon's changing tastes
• C&C and Young & Co report stunted summer sales
• Shorts: Bud Silver, cider mixes, clearing the air after the ban
• Marston’s seals deal with Ringwood
• Shepherd Neame gets XL ‘green’ award
• Smoking ban special
• Shorts: campus closure blues , spicy Stoke, life after the floods
• Greene King confident of keeping smokers
• S&N forecasts growth despite UK dampener
• Shorts: Fag end of pub smoking, seagulls swoop on smokers, new life from a mortuary

June 2007

• Diageo growth kept afloat by whisky