Thursday May 21, 2009 at 9:20pm
Will punters be amused by the prizes? In June the maximum stakes and prizes for Category C Amusement with Prizes (AWP) machines in pubs is set to double. Maximum stakes will be £1, and the maximum prize will go up to £70. But this news comes with a sting in the tail, as machine tax is rising from £760 to £830 per year.
Landlords of licensed premises may see little benefit in direct terms, but hope it will keep existing customers interested, and with luck attract new one....
(read more...)Tuesday May 19, 2009 at 7:32pm
A right of way is normally enjoyed along a specific route over someone's land. Sometimes the route of a right of way can be inconvenient to the owner of the land over which the right is enjoyed (particularly if the landowner wishes to develop the land) and a recent case has examined whether the landowner has a right to re-route a right of way.
The case has confirmed that a landowner has no right to re-route a right of way (unless the terms of the right of way expr....
(read more...)Monday May 18, 2009 at 12:46pm
A couple of recent reports have suggested now might be the time to consider stepping back into the UK commercial property market.
Last week, Cushman Wakefield indicated in its Business Briefing that prime yields for UK property have stabilised in the last two months with 21 of its 24 key yield outlook indicators flat-lining between March and April.
Today, Schroders called UK property "a screaming buy" particularly for overseas investors due, in part, to Sterling's weakness.
With com....
(read more...)Friday May 15, 2009 at 10:08am
Licensee Kerry Fenton clearly grabbed the headlines with her bid to boost customers by getting round the smoking ban, but was she right?
She established a designated room in her pub and claimed it was for smoking research. Customers who smoked there were required to fill out a questionnaire on their smoking habits. She had been advised that this was a loophole in the law and would allow smoking in the designated room.
The regulations provide that a designated room in a research or testing fa....
(read more...)Thursday May 14, 2009 at 7:08pm
When can we expect a recovery? This must surely be the question all SMEs are asking themselves. Most have adjusted to the recession as best they can, costs have been cut, cash flow managed more effectively and surplus labour made redundant. It has been painful, profits have been slashed, if they exist at all, but we hear of more and more businesses saying that they think they will survive the recession. But just how much longer until the belts can be loosened? There has been some talk in recent ....
(read more...)Wednesday May 13, 2009 at 4:13pm
A great summer of sun is forecast, and the licensed trade desperately needs kind weather particularly after last year’s washout and the winter of credit crunch misery. Sunshine puts everyone in a good mood, and particularly customers who will be more inclined to spend their cash as part of the feel good factor. But there is danger in the sunshine, and not just from sunburn! Pub gardens and outside areas will be a big attraction. But all this outside activity will generate a lot of noise, w....
(read more...)Friday May 1, 2009 at 6:06pm
The
Insolvency Service today published their statistics for the number of company insolvencies for the 1st quarter of 2009. These show that there were a total of 4,941 liquidations in England and Wales (an increase of 56% compared to a year ago). Of these, 1,579 companies were wound up by a court (an increase of 43.6% over the year) and 3,362 companies put themselves into liquidation (an increase of 62.5% over the year). From our experience, the main cause of liquidations is cash-flow problems o....
(read more...)Friday May 1, 2009 at 8:39am
Business operators should not be tempted to use a Sky domestic card to screen events in their business premises. Not only are they committing a criminal offence but they could risk losing their business. Recently a Bridgend pub landlady found herself with a criminal record and a hefty liability of nearly £7000 in fines and costs for 3 offences of screening Premiership football using her domestic Sky card, but she also had her Personal Licence revoked by the sentencing magistrates. Whilst t....
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