The MagicArt range of linen trolleys from TTS that can be completely customised by a hotel or hotel chain is now available in the UK from Leicester-based distributor Ramon Hygiene Products.
A 160-bed Tulip Inn hotel from France-based operator Louvre Hotels is at the heart of a new Glasgow development in the shadow of the Celtic FC football ground, plans of which were announced today.
A new interactive reservation experience, voiced by actor John Hurt, has been created by Heston Blumenthal for The Fat Duck which allows diners to enter a secret online sweetshop and view an animated version of the menu.
Linen and chefs wear supplier the London Linen Group have been in attendance at Hotelympia this week to launch EkoChef Trousers, made entirely from recycled plastic bottles.
Richard Harden, co-founder of the Harden’s Restaurant Guide, has slammed rival guide book Michelin, claiming the business is only involved in the restaurant industry for publicity and that The Michelin Guide ‘falls in love with the chefs it creates’.
Restaurants and pubs across the UK may need to consider revising their menus due to the continuing spread of the Schmallenberg virus, which could dramatically reduce supplies of lamb and increase its costs.
Work experience has hit the headlines as Government talks with businesses concerned about the scheme to get unemployed youngsters on placements continue; BigHospitality asked hospitality industry leaders at Hotelympia, including Raymond Blanc, for their...
Nestle Toque d'Or, the culinary competition for catering colleges, has taken on a new format for 2012, doing away with the first round paper entries and putting more emphasis on exposing students to 'real life' hospitality scenarios.
Meantime London, the Greenwich-based craft beer brewing company, has launched Yakima Red, a limited edition seasonal beer, to the trade market as the latest addition to the range of craft beers from the company.
The British Culinary Federation (BCF) Chef of the Year competition reached its climax at Hotelympia last night with Simon Webb from Restaurant Associates, Merrill Lynch, taking the prize after impressing judges including Raymond Blanc and Ashley Palmer-Watts.
The Cornwall-based brewery and pub operator, St Austell Brewery, has agreed a £40m refinancing deal with RBS and Barclays banks to help fund the company investments in its 174-strong pub estate.
Fred Sirieix, general manager at Galvin at Windows, has designed a new service college course with Westminster Kingsway College for restaurant managers that will be available for those already working in the industry.
Publicans have been warned by a leading sports lawyer not to misread the victory of Portsmouth landlady Karen Murphy in the High Court as an acceptance of the legality of showing Premier League matches without a valid UK subscription service.
New Admiral Taverns licensees will have a membership of the British Insitiute of Innkeeping (BII) for the lifetime of their agreement funded by the Chester-based pubco, following a similar announcement from Fuller's last year.
Restaurants and hotels can learn from what both sectors already do well on sustainability and responsibility for the industry to progress on environmental issues, according to Mark Linehan of the Sustainable Restaurant Association who was speaking at...
Raymond Blanc has called on the industry to do more to ensure young staff are getting the right training and are being properly developed so that they are equipped with the right skills to progress through the industry.
Hotelympia kicks off on Sunday at the ExCel centre for five days (26 February-1 March) of awards, product launches, chef demonstrations and more. As a media partner, BigHospitality will be there reporting on all the news as well as providing exclusive...
Jamie Oliver has acquired a site in the Covent Garden Market Building that was occupied by a pop-up restaurant from British chain Canteen. It is understood the celebrity chef is likely to open a Union Jacks on site, or alternatively a Jamie's Italian...
The consumer reviews website Qype has removed over two thousand ‘fake’ posts in the last month, just weeks after an Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ban on TripAdvisor from suggesting its reviews were ‘honest, real or trusted’.
Largely self-taught chef Laurie Gear started his career washing dishes in a local Dorset hotel. After he met his wife while learning his trade in the kitchen of the Combe House hotel in Gittisham, Gear worked with her to achieve their dream in 2002 of...
Former bar and conference venue Cafe Royal is set to re-open its doors as a 159-bedroom luxury hotel in June following three years of restoration and building work.
Oldham council is planning to build a hotel and hospitality training academy in the town which it believes could become a blueprint for more academies across the UK in the future.
TV chefs John Burton-Race and Jonathon Davies have partnered to create The Restaurant Experience – an innovative interactive restaurant, chosen by the people for the people.
2012 is set to be a record year for occupancy in London hotels but the situation after the Olympics will remain difficult although hotels in the regions may benefit in 2013, according to latest forecasts from Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC).
Catering equipment supplier Imperial has brought a new tough shelving range to the market, especially designed for use in commercial kitchens and refrigeration units where storage is needed.
A new report commissioned by the British Beer& Pub Association (BBPA) shows that 300,000 young people are directly employed in the beer and pub industry, fuelling concerns that plans for huge beer tax hikes in next month’s budget will put more young...
Tim Martin, the founder of JD Wetherspoon, is among the pub and bar industry personalities headlining the annual Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) conference in May celebrating the organisation’s 20th anniversary.
International hotel operator Accor has revealed the group consumes more than 18bn kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy, ahead of a spring publication of a new sustainable development strategy for the company.
FRIMA UK has launched the VarioCooking Center Multificiency, a high-tech piece of catering equipment which claims to be multi-functional and sustainable.
Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza operator, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), has announced it is to create nearly 3,000 UK jobs over the next three years, with more than 1,000 coming in 2012 as the operator launches the IHG Academy in Newham, London.
In the latest instalment of our Kitchen Equipment Special Feature we asked chefs working in pub, restaurant and hotel kitchens to tell us the one bit of kit they couldn't live without and we filmed three of them showing us exactly what made the equipment...
The Acadamy of Food and Wine service (AFWS) has this week launched its 2012 UK Sommelier of the Year competition and is calling for sommeliers and wine waiters nationwide to test their knowledge and skills by entering.
The Devonshire Arms – Gordon Ramsay’s failed pub in Chiswick, London – has closed with immediate effect having only re-opened under new ownership in July last year.
Ten hotels, restaurants, pubs and inns have been awarded by guide Les Routiers UK for demonstrating ‘exceptional service, hospitality and quality of food’ throughout the year.
Pesto, the Italian restaurant chain founded by La Tasca founder Neil Gatt, is to open three more sites under the Pesto in the Pub concept in the next six months after the first under the brand was successfully opened at a Punch Taverns site in Cheshire...
The 18 regional finalists who will battle it out for the 2012 Roux Scholarship have been revealed following the first paper judging stage of the competition last week.
Sven-Hanson Britt, a chef who trained at the Academy of Culinary Arts, completed an apprenticeship at The Ritz and worked there for more than four years is to embark on a tour of France exploring terroir and cuisine for a reference guide for fellow chefs.
BigHospitality rounds up the latest appointments in the hospitality industry. This month sees key appointments at hotels, restaurants and pubs including The Doyle Collection, Eighty-Six and Fuller's.
Premier Inn and Beefeater operator Whitbread is launching three skills academies across the UK to offer training for restaurant and kitchen managers in time for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations and the London 2012 Olympics later this year.
Raymond Blanc is to be recognised for 'services to the catering and hospitality industry' with a Lifetime Achievement Award and induction to the Hotelympia Hall of Fame at the event later this month.
Wahaca, the Mexican street food restaurant concept owned by Thomasina Miers and Mark Selby, is to open its seventh site in London, after securing the former Bertorelli site in Fitzrovia from the Marlon Abela Restaurant Corporation (MARC), according to...
Hotel prices have dropped across every city in the UK apart from London, which is one of only seven major cities in Europe to have seen an increase in room rates for February.
Replacing a kitchen is not something you consider every day. When margins are being squeezed in every area of the business it can be hard to see how spending a five or six-figure-sum on new kit will have an immediate effect on your profit margins.
