Industry worthies in Queen’s honours list
Those connected with the hospitality industry, were given recognition in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Those who were given an OBE, included: Donald MacDonald executive chair, MacDonald Hotels, services to tourism in Scotland; Derek Taylor services to hospitality industry; James Thomson vice-chair, British Hospitality Association/Restaurateurs’ Association Committee, services to hospitality and tourist industries in Scotland; John Woodward chair and managing director, Blue Anchor Leisure, services to tourism. While restaurateur, Fergus Henderson, was awarded an MBE for services to the hospitality industry in London. – The Times, 11 June
Liverpool Moat House demolished
Liverpool’s Moat House hotel has been reduced to rubble and dust following eight weeks of demolition. The site has been cleared as part of the £800m Grosvenor development in the city centre to make way for new shopping and leisure facilities. – Liverpool Daily Post, 11 June
Raw food restaurant opens in London
The first raw-food restaurant in Britain has opened in London's Primrose Hill and more are planned. Katia Norain, the co-owner of the Little Earth Café, was converted to raw food after spending time in Hawaii with friends who ate nothing but uncooked. "It is an amazingly interesting way of preparing food, it is good to have live enzymes in your system and, most importantly, it is yummy," she says. "This is not carrot sticks." – Independent on Sunday, 12 June
Jurys Doyle may still not be safe from hostile bid
Jurys Doyle’s decision to turn down a €1.03b offer from Precinct Investments to redevelop the Berkeley Court hotel in the Ballsbridgearea of Dublin and seek tender offers for the adjacent five-acre site housing the Towers and Jurys hotels is seen as a victory for the Doyle and Beatty families in the boardroom. Analysts are divided, however, as to whether the move will be sufficient to fend off another bid from the Precinct consortium or an-as-yet-undisclosed third party. – Sunday Times (Irish edition), 12 June
Smoking ban may cause closure of 10,000 pubs
A senior industry figure has warned that 10,000 pubs face closure if a ban on smoking is introduced. Concerns are growing, however, that Ms Hewitt could opt to follow the example of Ireland and go for a blanket ban. John McNamara, the chief executive of the British Institute of Innkeeping, said such a move would be "bloody fatal for British pubs. They can't stand to lose 10-15% of their turnover. The last thing we want to see is 10,000 pubs closing". – Independent on Sunday, 12 June.
Call for lunchtime chip shop ban for Scottish schoochildren
Scottish headteachers are demanding radical changes to the law that would force children to stay at school during lunch breaks and end the "chip shop run". In a bid to improve youngsters' eating habits, heads say legislation should also be introduced to ban mobile chip vans and other sellers of snack food from operating outside schools during the working day. Figures released last week show the numbers now eating school meals in Scotland is at its lowest since 1999. – Scotland on Sunday, 12 June
Whitbread to report hotel busy steady
Whitbread’s chief executive Alan Parker will report at a company update meeting this week that its hotel business has maintained momentum. However, its pub-restaurant division, which includes Beefeater, is still being hit by the downturn in consumer spending. Brewer Greene King is thought to have been approached about taking on Whitbread’s pub business. – The Business, 12 June
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