London’s Great Eastern in takeover bid
The Great Eastern Hotel in London looks set to be taken over by America's privately owned Hyatt Corporation in a deal worth an estimated £150m. Hyatt already runs The Churchill hotel in Portman Square, but has been seeking other locations in the capital. The Grade II-listed Great Eastern, which sits above Liverpool Street station, is jointly owned by Conran Holdings and Wyndham International. – The Times, 4 February

Easjet pizza bid dismissed by Domino’s
Stephen Hemsley, the chief executive of Domino’s Pizza UK and Ireland, dismissed plans by Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the easyJet entrepreneur, to open easyPizza delivery units in Britain. – The Times, 4 February

Little Chef to trial coffee shop concept
The People’s Restaurant Group, which recently acquired the Little Chef chain, is to start trials of a coffee shop concept, called Coffee Tempo!, at 17 of its 235 roadside eateries. – The Times, 4 February

Scottish restaurants to celebrate smoking ban
Restaurants across Scotland are planning a series of "last suppers" in which customers will commemorate the introduction of the smoking ban next month. Some will serve one-night-only tobacco-related menus in the run-up to the ban which comes into force at midnight on 25 March. The Wild Bergamot restaurant, in Glasgow has planned a special tobacco-themed menu for which it will be charging £60 a head. – Scotland on Sunday, 5 February.

47 local authorities bid for super casinos
The government has revealed that 47 local authorities across Britain have applied to build a Las Vegas-style “supercasino” offering unlimited jackpots. Rural authorities in Tewkesbury and North Somerset are competing against Manchester and Glasgow to build Britain’s first supercasino, which can have up to 1,250 slot machines with unlimited stakes and prizes. – Sunday Times, 5 February

Politicians warned not to stay at Dublin hotel
At least 30 Irish politicians, including two ministers in sensitive Government departments, have been advised to avoid a Dublin city centre hotel at the centre of a Criminal Assets Bureau investigation. They were contacted by their parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, last week after the CAB raided the hotel as part of an investigation into suspected paramilitary links to a €100m property empire. - Irish Independent, 5 February 

Scottish schoolchildren reject healthier meals
The school dinner revolution prompted by Jamie Oliver, the celebrity chef, appears to have had little impact in Scotland, according to a new study that reveals that half of all secondary pupils have never eaten school meals and only one in 10 does so every day. A Scottish executive report reveals that initiatives aimed at turning pupils away from junk food has failed to change eating habits. - Sunday Times (Scottish edition), 5 February

Exclusive hotel chain to get stock market listing
The chance to buy shares alongside the world's fifth-richest man sounds almost too good to be true. But this is what's on offer with the imminent £560m listing of Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI), a portfolio of stakes in 15 of the world's most exclusive hotels including the George V in Paris and the Savoy. – Independent on Sunday, 5 February

Whitbread’s Premier Travel Inn eyes up Travelodge
Whitbread, owner of the Premier Travel Inn budget-hotel chain, is working on plans for a £1b bid for rival Travelodge. The leisure giant is believed to have approached the Office of Fair Trading to obtain the competition regulator’s view on a possible tie-up with its hotel rival. – Sunday Times, 5 February.

Irish catering equipment supplier goes bankrupt
Servequip, one of Ireland’s biggest suppliers of catering equipment and commercial kitchens, is going into liquidation with the loss of about 50 jobs, just over four years after it changed hands for €15m. The Dublin-based company ceased trading late last week and is expected to call a meeting of its creditors for 14 February to appoint a liquidator. – Sunday Times (Irish edition), 5 February

Gate Gourmet director jailed for theft
The finance director of Gate Gourmet, the catering supplier previously in dispute with British Airways, was jailed for 12 months yesterday for stealing £30,000 between January and March last year to invest in money markets. Ravinder Dhillon, 44, who was on a salary of £110,000, stole the money while the company was losing £2m a month, Isleworth Crown Court was told. - The Times, 4 February