Tasty, Tasty. We’ve got ten pairs of gold tickets for entry to Taste of London next week, the capital’s most prestigious food festival, now in its fourth year. Simply e-mail your full details to Chris Druce marked Tasty Tickets. First come, first served!

We don’t like strangers ‘round here!

Apparently radical Cornish activists (no I’m not making this up) have threatened to get chefs Rick Stein and Jamie Oliver who through their damn success are making Cornwall too expensive for locals.

Crikey! I guess Stein and Oliver are unlikely to be joining up with the host of London chefs that will be turning off their lights on the longest day on 21 June .

No, not to avoid the tronc inspector but as part of a climate change campaign.

One fella who probably is sitting around with the lights off at the moment is Patrick Imbardelli who has resigned from his role as InterContinental Hotels Group’s  chief executive, Asia-Pacific region, after an “internal review” of his academic qualifications.

Set for the board was it a JK Rowling fan that spotted Hogwarts academy on Imbardelli’s CV? He probably feels like a right muggle, regardless.

Survey, survey on the wall what’s the issue that concerns you above all?

We’ve got a survey up and running asking hospitality operators and employees what worries them most at present, from terrorism to the performance of the economy.

If you’ve got a moment please respond and the findings will be presented in Caterer and Hotelkeeper on the 28 June, which is being guest edited by British Hospitality Association boss Bob Cotton.

New figures from the British Beer & Pub Association suggest around one million spotty-faced, squeaky-voiced underage drinkers are turned away from pubs each month, so I guess off-licenses are doing well.

Hilton Hotels Corporation (HHC) is to enter the UK’s budget hotel market with the introduction of its Hampton brand to take on Travelodge and Premier Travel Inn.

And cookery icon Delia Smith is to return to our screens in a new TV series.

Apparently Smith will invite guest celebrities to compete on her show each week, slaughter a range of animals and swear an awful lot…hang on, wrong show.

Congratulations to Lynnette Tinney who has been named the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA) School Chef of the Year 2007 and to Dragon’s Den competitor Levi Roots – great name – who is opening his first restaurant (in Denham perhaps?).

You’re hired! Yes apprentice winner Simon Ambrose is apparently going to turn his hand to hotel design and work on new premises at London’s Stansted airport for business mogul Alan Sugar.

If Sir Alan is looking for an area to branch into – maybe through Viglen his education sector computer supplier – he’ll find plenty to get his teeth into in the school meals sector.

Further upheaval has seen major school meals provider Scolarest ditch two major contracts fearing their financial viability as parents and schools demand ever higher standards.

And John Nugent, chief executive of caterer Searcy, has announced his resignation from the company.

Nugent will leave early next year to take on a new venture in London’s King’s Cross, Kings Place, as we wait on the outcome of hotel group De Vere’s approach for Searcy.

Quote of the week:  “Nothing incentivises the staff more than the thought of seeing the managing director in a dress, stockings and kitten heels at Christmas.” Stephen Gates, managing director of Denplan (from the Catering Forum).

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