Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Jascots to step up presence outside London

Published: 06 April, 2021

Jascots Wine has, together with its new owners Freixenet Copestick, revealed plans to expands its footprint outside its London heartland.

LWC opens doors to new £12.5m distribution site

Published: 06 April, 2021

LWC Drinks has opened the doors to a new £12.5m state-of-the-art 173,000 square foot bonded distribution centre ahead of the re-opening of the hospitality industry on 12 April.

Local authorities urged to support ‘forgotten businesses’

Published: 23 March, 2021

New guidance on the Additional Restrictions Grant has been announced by the government as the UK gears up to exit lockdown.

Helping hospitality survive

Published: 18 February, 2021

If reopening doesn’t come soon, many on-trade operators face ruin unless new support measures come into play. Andrew Catchpole reports.

Covid propels delivered drinks market into the mainstream

Published: 16 February, 2021

Lockdown is giving the on-trade and suppliers a chance to claim share of the delivered drinks market from supermarkets, according to CGA’s latest consumer research.

WSTA and SMEs call on Chancellor for further support in budget

Published: 21 January, 2021

Many of the UK’s best known wine and spirit SMEs have written a joint letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak urging him to cut duty while extended the hospitality’s VAT cut to provide further relief for those struggling with the pandemic.

CGA: ‘Suppliers well placed to help operators capitalise on post-lockdown opportunities’

Published: 19 January, 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered important changes in people’s attitudes to food and created a split between those seeking quality and value, but suppliers are well placed to help operators capitalise on post-lockdown sales opportunities, a new CGA survey has suggested.

GCA calls on suppliers to say if retailers are treating them 'fairly and lawfully'

Published: 13 January, 2021

Mark White, the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA), has launched the annual survey with a call to wine and spirit suppliers to tell him if retailers are treating them “fairly and lawfully”.

Jascots slides into administration

Published: 02 December, 2020

On-trade supplier Jascots Wine Merchants has gone into administration, Harpers has learned.

Trade bodies demand six-month support package

Published: 04 November, 2020

A group of trade bodies have written to the Chancellor to call for a six-month support package to secure the future of British pubs, hospitality and its supply chain.

Beale: ‘Supply chain must be eligible for cash grants’

Published: 26 October, 2020

The WSTA has urged the government to clarify that the cash grants promised as a support measure for the hospitality sector applies to the supply chain too.

WSTA reiterates concerns for “overlooked” supply chain

Published: 13 October, 2020

The Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) has reiterated its concerns for businesses that supply the hospitality sector.

The drinks community spirit

Published: 27 August, 2020

From care packages for hospitality staff to innovative and creative lockdown collaborations, Chris Losh looks at how those in the industry have reached out to one another

Big debate: How Covid-19 will prove a catalyst for change

Published: 30 July, 2020

Leading suppliers joined Andrew Catchpole in our recent Harnessing the Crisis for Change webinar to look at how Covid-19 will shape the road ahead.

Economics of on-trade supply have “hit a brick wall”

Published: 10 July, 2020

The Covid-19 crisis has stripped bare the precarious economic situation of the on-trade and its supply-side, with a correction in the market necessary to improve profitability.

Quarterly rent day dampens relief over 2 metre relaxation

Published: 23 June, 2020

The quarterly rent due 24 June, just a day after PM Boris Johnson relaxed the 2 metre rule while confirming 4 July reopening for hospitality, comes as a sobering reminder that the on-trade’s woes are far from over.

‘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.

US on-trade reopening gives near-future glimpse of path ahead for UK

Published: 21 May, 2020

Reduced food and drink ranges, continued off-trade sales, ongoing food take-out, plus the need for support from suppliers to ‘optimise drinks assortments’ are among the main takeaways from a recent Nielsen CGA survey of the US restaurant and bar sectors.

Suppliers seek clarity over support

Published: 07 May, 2020

Key suppliers to the shuttered on-trade have called on the government to help them survive Covid-19, pointing both to clarification on reopening measures and greater financial support.

Spotlight on 2020: Mark Roberts, Lanchester Wines

Published: 16 December, 2019

As we prepare for the new decade, Harpers will be taking the month of December to look back over 2019 and ahead to what the coming year will bring – hopefully full of revived optimism for both politics and the trade.