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.
Read more...
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?
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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’.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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
Read more...
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?
Read more...
Diageo has repurposed its Learning for Life training programme to help support the on-trade through the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
Read more...
There’s no escaping the imminent impact of lockdown 2.0 on on-trade Christmas sales, even if we go back to the tiered system in December.
Read more...
In a U-turn, the government has agreed to allow England’s pubs to sell takeaway alcohol during the national lockdown that begins on Thursday.
Read more...
Extra help is needed to support small, independent retailers through a second lockdown, including a ‘Shop out to help out’ scheme and a cashflow windfall, it has been suggested.
Read more...
Drinks giant Pernod Ricard has seen its sales drop 6% in the first quarter of the financial year, though UK retail sales remain dynamic.
Read more...
The government has made a meal out of eating out, with serious repercussions for the trade. Chris Losh reports
Read more...
Bordeaux Wines UK has become the latest marketing body to move its activities online.
Read more...
Drinks giant Diageo has revealed that its outlook for the first half of the fiscal year 2021 has “improved since the year-end”, reversing a moribund earlier forecast for a year that has been rocked by Covid-19.
Read more...
Andrew Catchpole talks to Mentzendorff boss Andrew Hawes pre and post-lockdown
Read more...
With end of transition fast approaching, concern is growing over lack of clarity on UK-EU trade. Ahead of the WSTA Industry Summit 2020, Andrew Catchpole spoke with Miles Beale about goverment's current plans to impose unnecessary red tape and barriers to business.
Read more...
