Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Last call for SITT Digital Day

Published: 23 February, 2021

Independent buyers across the on- and off-trade have got just one day left to wait for the Specialist Importers Trade Tastings (SITT) virtual event.

Delayed on-trade reopening redoubles calls for support

Published: 23 February, 2021

The government’s roadmap for re-opening has brought little cheer for hospitality, with already financially-stricken restaurants, bars and pubs languishing towards the back of the queue.

Government backed loans pile on the debt for hospitality operators

Published: 16 February, 2021

Mounting debt for operators who’ve had no choice but to take on huge government-backed loans to stay afloat is creating an untenable pressure cooker situation for the trade, hospitality owners have said.

Bancroft Wines: The glass half full

Published: 16 February, 2021

With a raft of new producers folded into its portfolio, Bancroft’s Jon Worsley explains to Andrew Catchpole why he’s cautiously optimistic about the year ahead

Soapbox: Seeing red on Brexit

Published: 09 February, 2021

Cambridge Wine Merchants’ Hal Wilson calls for a united voice in the face of challenges posed to UK-EU trade by the Trade & Cooperation Agreement and the pointlessness of the dreaded VI-1 form

2021 Events guide

Published: 20 January, 2021

James Lawrence rounds up the highlights of the coming year’s events calendar

‘Tariff free’ trade continues to muddy the Brexit waters

Published: 20 January, 2021

The scrapping of lab tests for EU wine heading to the UK will save the wine industry tens of millions of pounds a year. However, the new trade deal between the EU and UK has thrown up new questions around how much cross border trade in 2021 is likely to cost, with EU wine travelling via GB to Northern Ireland and other parts of the EU now entering a no man’s land where it temporarily belongs to neither region.

Guy Woodward: Reasons to be cheerful(ish)

Published: 14 January, 2021

Four things I’m excited about in 2021…

Game on 2021: Hospitality needs to come out fighting fit

Published: 14 January, 2021

The new edition of Harpers, out today, will reach readers hot on the heels of a parliamentary debate on the need for the creation of a minister for hospitality role in UK government. Resulting from the success of the Seat at the Table petition launched by hotelier Robin Hutson, of The Pig group and (formerly) Hotel du Vin fame, the proposal gained “an overwhelmingly positive response from all corners”, as reported by Harpers.

That’s it for 2020: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Harpers

Published: 17 December, 2020

As we teeter on the edge of 2021, a new year and a fresh shot at health and prosperity for the drinks trade, Harpers would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas break in whatever form that takes this year.

Jerry Lockspeiser: Britain 2021 – Fear or opportunity?

Published: 17 December, 2020

As we come to the end of this extraordinary year and look towards the future, are we filled with feelings of fear or opportunity, or a strange mix of both?

Trade goes digital with new app

Published: 14 December, 2020

Hospitality members’ club Trade has launched a free app for hospitality workers providing access to the community and perks beyond the walls of the Soho club, which closed its doors in March 2020.

Brexit: Independence Day?

Published: 09 December, 2020

With the end of the Brexit transition now hurtling down the track, many indies may not be aware of quite how much post-1 January changes could affect their businesses, as Andrew Catchpole reports.

Tim Atkin MW: Adapting to survive

Published: 08 December, 2020

The numbers are terrifying. With the imminent closure of 124 Debenhams stores and the loss of 12,000 jobs, the high street has arguably suffered its highest-profile casualty since Woolworths back in 2009. Stir in the 13,000 Arcadia employees who are likely to swell the unemployment statistics before long – and the probable disappearance of Sir Philip Green’s Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins brands – and we are contemplating a toxic brew.

WSTA webinar to offer indies “essential” advice on 1 January trading preparations

Published: 26 November, 2020

Fine wine and independent merchants are being invited to attend a free ‘Essential Preparations for 1 January Trading’ webinar hosted by the Wine & Spirit Association (WSTA) on 2 December.

Miles Beale: Trade deal will be within the week or not at all

Published: 25 November, 2020

Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) chief executive Miles Beale has said that the UK is likely to get ‘something or nothing’ in terms of a trade deal over the coming week, while insisting that a ‘deal is still better than no deal at all’.

Mixed news for hospitality in new English tier system

Published: 23 November, 2020

The 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants is to be lifted when England comes out of lockdown on 2 December, the prime minister is expected to announce today.

Next stop: Brexit

Published: 17 November, 2020

The mandatory and cumbersome VI-1 forms may not be a legal requirement until next summer, but bureaucratic Brexit hurdles still await, writes James Lawrence

Guy Woodward: The language of wine needs to change

Published: 12 November, 2020

What’s the point of tasting notes? Who are they actually for? Who reaps the benefit, for example, of reading that a wine has notes of “gentian, elderflower, seaweed, mussels, salt spray, chicken stock, sage, fennel, peach kernel, lemon, alkali and wet stone”, as David Schildknecht’s highly attuned nose detected in the 2004 Riesling Steinriesler of Nikolaihof Wachau?