Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Staffing For Success

Published: 22 April, 2021

For the second of our Building Back webinars in collaboration with Trade Hospitality App, Andrew Catchpole invited on-trade leaders to examine the growing issue of attracting and retaining talent.

Independents roundtable: Creating stronger supplier relations

Published: 20 April, 2021

Looking ahead to a receding pandemic, our recent How to Forge the Best Relationship with Suppliers round table explored how suppliers and merchants can best work together to ensure that the needs of old, new and evolved channels of business can be best capitalised upon and maximised. Andrew Catchpole rounds up the key takeaways

Covid passports hang over trade

Published: 07 April, 2021

Covid passports could still be introduced at a later date for hospitality venues, a new government report has revealed, despite the Prime Minister ruling out their introduction for outdoor reopening over the next six weeks.

Tim Atkin MW: Valuing our old vines

Published: 06 April, 2021

Call it serendipity, call it fate, but there are times when events and conversations seem to align. You go for months without thinking about something and then it’s everywhere, filling your inbox and your brain. Spooky, possums, as Dame Edna Everage once put it.

Wine: a discombobulating ride?

Published: 04 March, 2021

Will we ever understand wine drinkers?

Wine industry falling behind other sectors on creating a global sustainable standard

Published: 26 November, 2020

A global framework used by other sectors like palm oil, mining, textiles and even golfing is needed to build best practice for the wine industry, some of the world’s leading experts in environmental management have said.

Jerry Lockspeiser: Can we plan for the unknown?

Published: 23 November, 2020

“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.” Charles Bukowski

Tring Winery packs a postable punch

Published: 03 November, 2020

Alex Taylor and Jamie Smith of Urban Craft Wines at Tring Winery are sending innovation out the door, as Andrew Catchpole reports

Curfew looms for London’s pubs and restaurants

Published: 17 September, 2020

Curfews could see pubs and restaurants close by 10pm, London’s public health chief has warned, as the government aims to curb an escalating spike in infections.

Consumers positive about Eat Out to Help Out scheme

Published: 07 September, 2020

Consumers were very happy with the levels of hygiene and cleanliness they encountered during the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, according to an extensive survey conducted by CGA, UK Hospitality and Yumpingo.

Low and no sales on the rise

Published: 07 September, 2020

Sales of low- and no-alcohol drinks are up 30% year-on-year in the off-trade, with consumer spend on alcohol-free spirits hitting £5.4m, according to data from Nielsen.

Jerry Lockspeiser: What happens next?

Published: 26 August, 2020

One of the many reasons people like working in the wine trade is the sense of common bond. Trade outsiders may doubt how friendly people who are direct competitors can really be. But they often are. People can’t help liking and respecting each other. The bonhomie that wine engenders helps, as does admiration for the labour, love, and sheer dedication of those who make the stuff. From producers to distributors, retailers, and communicators, an unstated feeling of shared mission is in the air. Now, too, the trenches spirit that comes with having backs against the wall.

“Kickstart scheme” for young people to lift up hospitality sector

Published: 08 July, 2020

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has revealed plans to subsidise work placements for young people in a move that is believed to be aimed at stimulating the hospitality and tourism industries while tackling unemployment post-Covid.

Government to pay £1,000 “bonus" for every employee brought back from furlough

Published: 08 July, 2020

The government has announced a Job Retention Bonus to support furloughed employees and businesses back into work.

Fuller's launches income streaming service for staff

Published: 01 June, 2020

Pub and hotel business Fuller’s has partnered with income-streaming provider Wagestream to give its staff access to their wages - or their furlough pay - ahead of pay day.

Friday Read: What’s going to drive us to drink after the pandemic?

Published: 29 May, 2020

Rowena Curlewis, CEO of drinks design specialist Denomination, looks at the impact that the lockdown will have on our future drinks choices

Amathus Drinks invites consumers to Taste Together online

Published: 29 May, 2020

Wine and Spirit importer, distributor and retailer Amathus Drinks is forging head with a range of interactive online tastings to help customers explore far flung corners of the wine world.

Jerry Lockspeiser: When the only certainty is uncertainty

Published: 28 May, 2020

As I sat down to write this piece my phone rang. It was Nick, a winemaker and one of my oldest friends. We have been close since the early 1990s when he gambled his career on joining my incipient wine business. Its subsequent success was in no small part down to him.

Champagne Academy launches emergency financial fund for The Drinks Trust

Published: 28 May, 2020

The Champagne Academy has announced the launch of a range of fundraising initiatives to help support The Drinks Trust and its beneficiaries through these turbulent times.

Shift to home cooking poses further threat to the on-trade

Published: 13 May, 2020

More time to spend cooking and access to creative culinary content online could pose a major hurdle to a restaurant industry which is now preparing to get back on its feet.