Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Harpers 50 Best Indies 2021 – nominations invited

Published: 23 April, 2021

We are once again launching our annual 50 Best Indies Awards, to acknowledge the best in the business of indie drinks retailing.

Bringing it All Together at SME business advice summit

Published: 22 April, 2021

Many SMEs have had it particularly tough during the pandemic, with small and medium-sized businesses less likely than their larger rivals to have access to the resources to help guide them through.

Independents roundtable: Creating stronger supplier relations

Published: 20 April, 2021

Looking ahead to a receding pandemic, our recent How to Forge the Best Relationship with Suppliers round table explored how suppliers and merchants can best work together to ensure that the needs of old, new and evolved channels of business can be best capitalised upon and maximised. Andrew Catchpole rounds up the key takeaways

Tech & innovation: Seismic shifts

Published: 14 April, 2021

We’re on the cusp of a new and advanced tech-fuelled era for hospitality as the on-trade begins to reopen, says Jo Gilbert.

Perfect match for Jascots

Published: 06 April, 2021

When the pandemic overwhelmed long-standing merchant Jascots, Freixenet Copestick spotted an opportunity to create the ideal symbiotic relationship. Lisa Riley reports.

Year of shuttered restaurants and bars has left hospitality ‘shattered’

Published: 22 March, 2021

In the year since the first hospitality shutdown, the sector has taken a battering with more than eight months of closure delivering a heavy blow.

Hospitality to help ‘reignite’ UK economy

Published: 15 March, 2021

Hospitality can play a critical role in rebooting the UK economy if it receives the necessary levels of support from government.

Awards recognising ‘pandemic start-ups’ launches

Published: 10 March, 2021

International Food &  Drink Event (IFE) has teamed  up with challenger brand builder Mission Ventures to showcase  innovative  start-ups  in the food and drink sector, including alcohol, which have launched during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Technology key focus for investment and innovation

Published: 08 March, 2021

Technology is set to be a key focus for investment and innovation as hospitality opens up again, according to the latest CGA’s Business Leaders’ Survey.

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.

Average of 30 licensed premises closing a day

Published: 01 March, 2021

Nearly 12,000 licensed premises have closed in Britain since December 2019 — an average of around 30 a day and the highest rate on record, according to the latest Market Recovery Monitor from CGA and AlixPartners.

Hospitality leaders show long-term optimism

Published: 25 February, 2021

Hospitality leaders are optimistic about the long-term future of the sector and its role in the UK’s economic recovery, with many businesses seeking to grow rather than shrink, the latest CGA Business Leaders' Survey has revealed.

Excise duties hike latest blow to SA wine industry

Published: 24 February, 2021

The South African government has announced it will increase the excise duties on alcohol by 8%.

Success for Manchester hybrid as prohibition notice is revoked

Published: 04 February, 2021

Blossom Street Social has been allowed to open again after a prohibition notice prevented the hybrid business from operating as a retail outlet.

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.

Nicholls awarded OBE

Published: 04 January, 2021

UK Hospitality (UKH) CEO Kate Nicholls has been awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year Honours list for her services to the hospitality sector.

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?

High street restrictions could have dire consequences for small business this Christmas

Published: 10 December, 2020

Local shops and businesses are on a ‘cliff edge’, with one in 10 facing permanent closure without a successful Christmas trading period.

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.

Cautious optimism returns for hospitality’s businesses prospects

Published: 07 December, 2020

A new survey has revealed a rise in optimism among hospitality operators for the future of their business over the next 12 months, albeit from a very low threshhold – but representing a substantial increase from the third quarter of the year.