If Westminster Council has its way, partying will have to come to a close at 1am in the West End, which includes the core entertainment areas of Soho and Covent Garden as well as some other recently designated "stress" areas. Many clubs and bars in these areas currently open until 3am. Outlets outside the West End and the so-called "stress" areas will have to close at 11pm or midnight. This move would run against the spirit of the new licensing White Paper which favours the liberalisation of opening hours. While provincial cities in the UK are keen to create 24-hour cities, Westminster Council intends to turn back the clock to send Londoners and tourists alike to bed early so that all get a good night’s sleep.

Last year they were rivals in the acrimonious battle over who would get Allied Domecq’s pub estate, this year they have formed a joint venture. Whitbread and Punch Taverns have created a £80 million joint venture company to oversee the creation of at least 50 new Travel Inns next to Punch’s pubs. All the 40 - 60 bedroom hotels will be managed by Whitbread. Travel Inn is currently 250-strong and has more than 13,000 bedrooms. Following the AGM, Sir John Banham replaced Sir Michael Angus as chairman of Whitbread.

JD Wetherspoon has overtaken Whitbread’s Brewers Fayre as the biggest pub brand in Britain, says a report from Martin Information, London. Wetherspoon’s total of 407 indicates that it has opened 50 new units this year alone, more than any other single brand and substantially more than its rival the 390-strong Brewers Fayre. However, the Whitbread brand is being overhauled, with the new family-oriented Brewsters sub-brand being introduced into 120 sites, while the other 270 will focus on adult dining. For further information, contact

Scottish&Newcastle’s sale of its leisure division (Center Parc holiday villages and Pontin’s holiday camps), announced in February, has been delayed as the value of the division has slowly dropped to an estimated £700 million. The company said that it expects to make a formal announcement later this summer, blaming a fire at one of the units for the hold-up.
Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) also reported a 5% rise in profits before tax, exceptionals and amortisation of goodwill to £408.6 million for the year ended 30 April 2000. Pre-tax profits after adjustments were £262 million compared with £323.7 million last year. Turnover was up 8% to £3.6 billion, from £3.3 billion in 1999. Earnings per share were 29.9p compared with 38.7p in 1999.4% stake in Spanish brewer Mahou..

For the financial year 1999/2000, ended June, Beck Brewery announced a sales increase for the Beck’s brand of 7.0%. Last year, Beck’s sold 4.4 million hl (1998/99: 4.16 million hl), which represents an increase of 3.3% domestically and 10% internationally. As Götz-Michael Müller, Managing Director Distribution and Marketing said, Beck’s grew above average in Italy, the UK and the emerging markets. In Germany, Beck Brewery increased prices for Beck’s by 6.0% to stop profit margins from further decline. Since July, Lion Nathan has been distributing Beck’s in Australia, following the licensing agreement signed between the two brewers for China.

After the failed merger of Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank, and more recently of Dresdner Bank and Commerzbank, the rest of the world must have come to the conclusion that German companies do not know how to do it.
Amidst collective gnashing of teeth and mutual accusations of "it was you", comes the latest attempt at doing it right. For months the brewers’ grapevine had been a-buzz with rumour that one of the largest beer and beverage groups Brau und Brunnen AG, Dortmund, (BuB) would be sold.
Interestingly, for many years BuB had pursued a rather reckless business expansion strategy as concerns its beer and real estate deals... and out again.
This year matters definitely turned to the worse when BuB in its 1999 annual report reported volume sales of 13... to be continued..

Bikini diet

British food and drinks group Diageo said that its beer division, Guinness, would cut around 100 jobs at its London Park Royal Brewery to improve production efficiency. The West London site brews an estimated 2.2 million hl of draught Guinness stout for the UK market and presently employs about 1,200 people.

Budweiser victorious in the UK

Following legal action running for over 20 years, the London Court of Appeal held that the US Anheuser-Busch brewing group and the Czech Budweiser Budvar brewery may use the Budweiser trademark in the UK. Great Britain, importing 80,000 hl, is one of Budweiser Budvar‘s most important export markets.

Lozenges for the Lion

Although Löwenbräu’s accounts are still in the red, the chief Jobst Kayser-Eichberg has forecasted a "black zero" for the current financial year 1999/2000. During the past financial year 1998/99 beer sales had fallen just below one million hl; turnover declined by DM35 million to DM214 million (US$99.5 million). Löwenbräu which was put under the Spaten Holding three years ago is confident that export sales will pick up again. They had fallen by 15%.

A record high

Germany’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze, rose by 20 meters to 2986 meters on 1 May when HRH Prince Luitpold von Bayern, the owner of Kaltenberg Brewery, and the members of the marketing initiative "Royal Bavarian" put a May pole on the top of the mountain. Well, actually they did not place it right on top - the elements would not have allowed that - but outside the summit restaurant. In any case, the may pole made it into the Guinness Book of Records as the highest May pole ever.