Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Majestic reverts back to traditional logo

Published: 02 September, 2020

Majestic has revealed it is reverting back to its traditional ‘bunch of grapes grape’ logo, which was used as the company’s identity between 1991 to 2018.

WSET candidate figures hit by Covid but buoyed by online

Published: 02 September, 2020

The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) has reported an 11% drop in candidates taking a qualification in the last academic year (2019/20).

Gyles Walker, Co-op: Back to Business Q&A

Published: 27 August, 2020

As the trade measures up to extraordinary times and swings through summer, leading businesses and operators take stock of trading conditions in the new normal.

Brewdog teases Bad Beer Vodka as brewer celebrates carbon negativity

Published: 24 August, 2020

Beer powerhouse Brewdog is continuing to pave the way for sustainable action as it teases the launch of a zero waste vodka made from brews which are not quite in spec or too old to sell.

Supermarket BWS sales stay strong

Published: 19 August, 2020

Sales of beer, wine and spirits (BWS) through supermarkets increased 20% in the past four weeks, while total grocery sales slowed down.

Global online buying frenzy levelling out

Published: 11 August, 2020

The extraordinary upward curve in online wine and spirit sales appears to be flattening, suggests the latest data from Wine-Searcher.

Diageo GB’s full year results reveal impact of on-trade closure

Published: 04 August, 2020

Diageo’s full year results reveal a 47% fall in operating profits globally as a result of the pandemic, with net sales of spirits down 8% globally, and a 4% dip in the UK.

Beer is the big post-lockdown winner as pubs lead on-trade recovery

Published: 03 August, 2020

Out-of-home drinks sales are continuing to nudge upwards after the end of lockdown, with pubs and beer in most demand so far, it has emerged.

Brits almost halve alcohol intake during lockdown

Published: 29 July, 2020

Brits consumed 1.3 billion litres of alcohol during the UK’s lockdown period, almost half the 2 billion litres recorded during the same period last year, according to new data from Nielsen Scantrack and CGA.

AB InBev canned wine enters UK with rosé made for British market

Published: 16 July, 2020

US canned wine brand Babe has made its UK debut with a French sparkling rosé developed specially for the British market.

Additional 145 million pints to be sold due to reduced ‘distancing’

Published: 24 June, 2020

CGA has calculated that 145 million additional pints of beer will be sold through the on-trade as a result of the new 1 metre distancing rule, compared with what would have been sold with 2 metres.

BWS sales through grocers continue to boom

Published: 23 June, 2020

Alcohol sales through grocery stores continued to boom in the past four weeks, up 43% year-on-year, as the on-trade stayed shuttered.

‘Distancing’ most important to on-trade guests post-lockdown

Published: 19 June, 2020

Having social distancing measures in place has been revealed to be the key concern for consumers when they return to the on-trade post-lockdown, according to new research released by Hallgarten & Novum Wines today.

WSET branches out into beer qualifications

Published: 17 June, 2020

The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) is gearing up to launch a suite of beer qualifications.

Friday Read: George Sandbach of the Oxford wine dynasty talks shop during shutdown

Published: 11 June, 2020

George Sandbach of Sandy’s Piano Bar talks to Andrew Catchpole about adapting to lockdown, selling quality booze out the back door, the thorny problem of rent and launching an accessible podcast series.

Alcohol sales knocked by lockdown

Published: 08 June, 2020

Despite the marked shift from on-trade to home drinking, lockdown could still leave a sobering £7bn hole in total UK alcohol sales, as Andrew Catchpole reports.

Morgenrot celebrates 50th with Alzheimer's charities fundraisers

Published: 04 June, 2020

Morgenrot has launched a series of fundraising activities to raise money for Alzheimer’s charities and causes throughout 2020.

Alcohol to not rebound globally until 2024

Published: 26 May, 2020

It will take five years for the global alcohol category to get back to pre-Covid health, the IWSR has predicted, with double digit declines expected to the hit the category this year.

Pandemic is officially “Bad for beer, better for spirits and wine”

Published: 15 May, 2020

Beer and cider were hard-hit in the 2008/9 economic crisis, suffering from a combination of duty rises, an on-trade slump and increased at-home consumption, all of which tend to favour spirits and wine.