Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Hawksmoor floats into Canary Wharf

Published: 17 August, 2021

Hawksmoor Wood Wharf

Bar trend for cocktails spills into nightclubs

Published: 10 August, 2021

Nightclub visitors have, in line with trends seen after the restart of restaurants, pubs and bars from April, been celebrating reopening of the sector with cocktails, according to CGA research.

Rousset and Pineau return with Nocturne

Published: 06 July, 2021

Nocturne

Branded hospitality closures stabilise following steep decline

Published: 05 July, 2021

Newly released data has revealed a slowdown in outlet closures for some of the sector’s biggest companies, with the numbers levelling off versus the “steep declines” of 2018 and 2019.

Job vacancies in hospitality sector rise 46%

Published: 25 May, 2021

The number of new job vacancies in the hospitality sector rose by 46% in the last two weeks, according to new analysis by audit, tax and consulting firm RSM.

New on-trade revenue streams likely to remain post-pandemic

Published: 04 March, 2021

Retail is likely to remain firmly in the mix for many hospitality operators, even once the pandemic recedes.

Take Out to Help Out e-book from Bums on Seats

Published: 25 January, 2021

Bums on Seats has launched a free e-book resource, Take Out to Help Out, giving advice for on-trade operators as to how best to develop and market an at home dining offer.

Lockdown heroes: Top Cuvée

Published: 07 January, 2021

Top Cuvée’s story is like many others in 2020. A restaurant forced to close, hard decisions to be made, while leaning into other parts of the business in order to bump through furlough and intermittent lockdowns. However, like so many, there’s another story beneath. For Top Cuvée, 2020 has been an exercise in pure agility, with its co-founders having to pedal – quite literally, in some instances – from one new venture to the next in a bid to keep the lights on.

Roux folds under Covid pressure

Published: 07 December, 2020

Plummeting footfall in central London has done for Roux at Parliament Square, with Michel Roux Jr announcing the permanent closure of the well-loved Westminster site.

Hakkasan launches nationwide wine delivery service

Published: 17 November, 2020

Hakkasan has launched a nationwide wine delivery service to build on the success of its Covid inspired Hakkasan at Home initiative launched in March.

Popular trade figure Terry Threlfall passes away

Published: 19 October, 2020

It was with surprise and a heavy heart that the wine trade community – in the UK and beyond – received the news of Terry Threlfall’s untimely death. Terry passed away last Friday from a heart attack, aged just 43.

GBK follows Carluccio’s to Boparan following Covid squeeze

Published: 14 October, 2020

Boparan Restaurant Group (BRG), owner of Carluccio’s, has acquired burger brand Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK), saving 35 trading sites national-wide.

Bibendum becomes official wine partner of London Restaurant Festival

Published: 28 September, 2020

Bibendum Wine has been unveiled as the official wine partner of this year’s London Restaurant Festival (LRF), which will be running an amended schedule of in-restaurant and at-home events when it returns this Thursday 1 October.

Q&A: Stefan Neumann MS, director of wine, Dinner by Heston

Published: 18 September, 2020

Andrew Catchpole catches up with one of the most passionate sommeliers in London to talk wine culture, change and cheese

Restaurant outings rise increasingly driven by all age groups

Published: 17 September, 2020

UK consumer confidence to eat out continues to rise, with 10 million more people visiting bars and restaurants in August over June, with an additional 2.4 million also likely to venture out for the first time during the next fortnight.

Hubert Beatson-Hird, The Hunter’s Moon: Back to Business Q&A

Published: 18 August, 2020

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

Q&A: Emily Roux, co-owner, Caractère

Published: 18 August, 2020

The youngest scion of the Roux clan talks to Jo Gilbert about family expectations, restaurant no-shows and how to avoid divorce when working (and living) with your significant other during a pandemic

Pubs and restaurant group sales halve in first month back

Published: 13 August, 2020

Britain’s managed pub, restaurant and bar groups saw trading fall to just over half of ‘normal’ trading compared to the same month last year, data from CGA’s Coffer Peach Business Tracker has shown.

Symington partners with Michelin-starred chef to launch pop-up

Published: 30 July, 2020

Symington Family Estates has collaborated with Michelin-starred chef Pedro Lemos to launch pop-up restaurant Casa dos Ecos at the Port producer’s Quinta do Bomfim estate.

James Sommerin left ‘devastated’ by restaurant closure as he issues plea to customers

Published: 24 July, 2020

Top chef James Sommerin has spoken about the cruel circumstances surrounding the closure of his family restaurant after the pressures of Covid-19 became too much to bear.