Compass Group pulled off a bank job this week, winning the deal to cater at the Bank of England.

Celebrity chefs continued to build their celebrity stock with Jamie Oliver hosting a charity dinner for the Fifteen Foundation and Marco Pierre White supporting Hospitality Action and [this weekend] opening Delia Smith’s new restaurant in Norwich.

The pub industry called for a balanced approach to the issue of binge-drinking as the Prime Minster held secret talks and a new report from the BBC discovered popular support for a rise in the alcohol purchasing age from 18 to 21.

Mitchells & Butlers and Punch Taverns were unceremoniously dumped from the index of leading shares, the FSTE 100, months after entering and JD Wetherspoon said it had appointed new suppliers after this summer’s Welsh food blunder.

Hyatt’s Michael Gray was named as Caterer and Hotelkeeper’s Hotelier of the Year and a new comprehensive report predicted the budget hotel sector would double in size in the next couple of decades.

Travelodge was fined over health and safety breaches as Whitbread, Premier Inn’s owner, said it had 200 Costa Coffee stores planned for Russia.

3663 First for Foodservice signed a deal worth £27.5m to supply facilities management company ISS with chilled and ambient products and Prime Minister Gordon Brown got a roasting from the chief executives of some of the UK’s largest hospitality and tourism companies.

By Chris Druce