AndyRob
Cutty Sark at Falmouth
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I posted to flickr.com
Cutty Sark at Falmouth
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/5895442362/
July 2 2011, 5:33pm | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Punch Taverns plots another way out of £3bn debt and a pub empire in crisis
An eighth of the UKs pubs are owned bu Punch Taverns, and every time they spend money on re-branding interiors to meet different market segments rather than delivering good quality beer and cider and in a congenial atmosphere, they are slowly failing.
This article titled “Punch Taverns plots another way out of £3bn debt and a pub empire in crisis” was written by Andrew Clark, for The Observer on Sunday 27th March 2011 00.05 UTC There’s no logo above the door of its pubs. No branding, no advertising, not the slightest sign of corporate identity. But an eighth of Britain’s licensed houses are quietly owned by Punch Taverns, a sprawling, anonymous empire of neighbourhood drinking establishments disintegrating under a mountain of £3bn in debt. Punch owns 6,770 of Britain’s 52,000 pubs, an estate built over a decade of frenetic multibillion-pound purchases, sales, mergers and demergers at the height of Britain’s leveraged buyout boom. Its empire stretches from the Quayside Inn in Falmouth, Cornwall, to the Chieftain, in Inverness. But after slashing the balance sheet value of hundreds of struggling pubs, it slid to a £159m loss last year and had to make interest payments on its debts of £260m. Shares have slumped by 95% over four years amid mounting alarm that Punch could default on its debts. Top executives blame external factors – they say drinkers have been lured out of pubs by cheap lager on supermarket shelves and by the Labour government’s 2007 decision to outlaw smoking in pubs. “The dynamics in the market changed and that really started with the smoking ban,” says Roger Whiteside, managing director of Punch’s tenanted pubs division. “There’s been a long-term decline for decades in volume sales of beer. What used to be copeable with – a 2% or 3% drop a year – became 7% or 8%.” Whiteside says ultra-cheap lager in Asda, Sainsbury’s or Tesco has not helped, but blames the smoking ban, swiftly followed by a recession, for an unprecedented cash crunch: “Consumers are drinking more at home. That’s been driven by an ever-widening gap between beer prices in supermarkets and in pubs, exacerbated by the social aspects of banning smoking.” Punch, which narrowly trails Enterprise Inns as Britain’s second-biggest pub owner, briefed the City last week on its strategy for stopping the rot. It plans a demerger to separate Punch Partnerships, its vast rump of quasi-independent tenanted pubs, from its snazzier high-street managed division, known as Spirit, which is doing better because its outlets sell more food. Followers of the industry could be excused a weary sense of deja vu. The history of Punch Taverns reads like a corporate finance catalogue. It has kept lawyers, investment bankers and brokers in clover to a staggering degree since its creation in 1997 by former Pizza Express boss Hugh Osmond. In transactions worth billions, backed by massive bond issues, Punch bought pub estates from Bass, Allied Domecq, Pubmaster, Innspired and Inn Business. It has sold off pubs in dribs and drabs and unsuccessfully attempted a huge merger with Mitchells & Butlers in 2008. It has merged, demerged, remerged – and is demerging again – with Spirit. Along the way, some have made a fortune; former chief executive Giles Thorley, who ran Punch from 2001 until 2010, took home nearly £30m over five years. Investors objected, voting down the company’s remuneration policy in 2009. New boss Ian Dyson’s latest wheeze to split the group in two will cost £30m in advisory fees, prompting derision from certain bondholders, one of whom told the Guardian: “There’s a £30m corporate finance party on the top deck of the Titanic when attention should be focused on urgent engine room repairs.” Many have tired of constant financial engineering and ask why the City has added such spectacular complications to an ostensibly simple business – street-corner boozers. Jonathan Mail, head of policy at the Campaign for Real Ale, says: “Because of the financial engineering and debt companies have taken on, lessees haven’t been able to make sufficient profit to invest so that pubs can evolve and change with the times.” Critics of Punch, and its similarly vast competitor Enterprise Inns, argue that, far from being companies with a passion for pubs, they are property businesses largely concerned with milking tenants for rent. Greg Mulholland, the Liberal Democrat MP who chairs parliament’s all-party “Save the pub” group, says: “The big so-called pub companies are really property companies, and very largely property speculators. Some are playing Monopoly with pubs that mean an awful lot to communities they serve.” As 20 pubs a week close in Britain, Mulholland argues that Punch and its fellow megaliths are follies born on the drawing board of City dealmakers during an era of reckless exuberance prior to the financial crisis: “Apart from the fact their size is unwieldy, it’s bad for both tenants and consumers to have so many pubs in the hands of a couple of big companies. The folly of the business model and some of the bad decisions made by Punch are coming home to roost.” Under the tenanted model favoured by Punch, most of its pubs are franchised out to licensees who pay rent at a level fixed over periods of five years. They are obliged to buy their beer from Punch, which, because of its vast scale, can negotiate steep discounts with brewers. However, disaffected tenants complain that Punch has hiked the price of beer in recent years as it struggles to meet debt repayments. Simply servicing the group’s debt costs each of Punch’s pubs an average of £39,000 last year, a hefty chunk of typical annual takings of £200,000-£250,000. For landlords, profit margins are often wafer-thin; a 2009 report by the Commons business and enterprise committee found that 78% of lessees were dissatisfied with their “tie” to big pub companies. Two-thirds earned less than £15,000 a year. The churn as landlords quit has caused concern; Punch says 13% of its outlets are under temporary management. “The model doesn’t work,” says Steve Corbett, founder of the Fair Pint Campaign. “It’s financial engineering in the extreme, whereby they’ve managed to extract the maximum profit to the detriment of tenants and consumers.” The City has little patience for sentiment about pubs. Nigel Parsons, an analyst at Evolution Securities, says licensed houses ought to be treated as dispassionately as any business: “Pubs don’t deserve a special place in society – they’re only there because they work. The ones that go to the wall deserve to because they don’t offer anything special.” He believes that the tenanted model in not inherently flawed, but that players such as Punch have simply over-reached: “The application of the model works, but they’ve pushed it too aggressively.” Punch plans to halve in size from 6,700 pubs to about 3,000. In addition to spinning off its Spirit estate, it intends to sell 2,200 poorly performing pubs. It reckons two-thirds are likely to stay open as pubs, while a third will go to developers for transformation into shops, care homes or residential developments. The company insists its deal-making has raised the standard of pub life. “The choice of beer has absolutely exploded, we sell more than 700 ales,” says Whiteside. “We’ve been instrumental in investing in pubs, putting food into pubs and creating a more pleasant environment.” The Fair Pint Campaign demurs. Corbett says: “Walk down any street in Britain and you can spot a tied pub a mile off. It’s the one falling apart… and may have had four or five tenants over 10 years.” Timeline 1997 Hugh Osmond establishes Punch Taverns by buying 1,400 pubs from Bass 1999 Buys 688 pubs from Inn Business; 3,000 from Allied Domecq 2002 Spirit Group, its managed estate, demerged; 4,200-strong tenanted estate floats as Punch Taverns 2003 Buys rival Pubmaster for £1.2bn, adding a further 3,115 pubs 2004 Purchases Innspired Group for £335m, gaining 1,064 more pubs 2006 Buys back Spirit for £2.7bn 2007 CEO Giles Thorley is the highest paid in the FTSE 100, earning £11.3m 2008 Merger bid for Mitchells & Butlers is rebuffed; trading begins to falter 2009 Emergency cash call raises £375m; executive pay policy voted down 2010 Recession squeezes pub takings; Thorley quits as chief executive 2011 Shares plunge on fear of default; another demerger of Spirit proposed
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March 27 2011, 5:00am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Cornish pasties are no one’s patsies
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/04/cornish-pasties-are-no-ones-patsies
More on the Cornish Pasty, just in time for St Piran’s Day tomorrow March 5th.
This article titled “Cornish pasties are no one’s patsies” was written by Lesley Gillilan, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 22nd February 2011 17.20 UTC If I was a Cornish nationalist I’d be out there waving St Piran’s flag, singing verses from Trelawny ( … a good sword and a trusty hand, a faithful heart and true, King James’s men shall understand, what Cornish lads can do … ). I’m not. But I am Cornish, so it’s good to know that my native county finally has the monopoly on the denomination of our regional dish. For nine years the Cornish Pasty Association has fought for Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status. Now, hurrah, only pasties made in Cornwall can claim a Cornish identity. Under EU law, PGI foods must be “produced or processed or prepared within the geographical area”. So no more copy-cat Cornish pasties made in, I don’t know, London, or Leeds, or even Le Havre. No more nonsense at the British Pie Awards, either (there was a bit of an outcry from the Cornish camp, when Chunk, a pie-maker from Devon, won first prize in the Cornish pasty category in 2009). And the directive doesn’t stop at the pasty’s origins. Like Swaledale cheese, Melton Mowbray Pork Pies or Arbroath smokies (all British foods with PGI status) there are certain qualities, traditions, to uphold. So what you’re looking for is this: under new protected status, a genuine Cornish pasty must be made in Cornwall. It must have a distinctive “D” shape, crimped on one side (never on top); the filling should be “chunky” (minced or roughly cut chunks of beef – representing no less than 12.5% of the content); add potato, swede (in Cornwall, some of us call it turnip), onion and a light seasoning, packed into a pastry case (“golden in colour, savoury, glazed with milk or egg and robust enough to retain its shape”) and slowly baked. Purists might say that the meat should be beef skirt (not steak), and the pastry should be short-crust. I’m pretty sure that 19th century tin-miners – who cooked up the original pasty as a handy form of packed lunch – would have been glad of any meat content (I believe they used to put apple at one end). But I agree with the Cornish Pasty Association, no artificial flavourings nor additives should be allowed. Now, I do like a good pasty, I really do. My husband reckons I’m genetically programmed to sniff one out the moment I get within a mile or two of, say, Bodmin Moor. And it’s kind of true. As soon as I cross the border (welcome to Kernow, goodbye Devon), I get an itch, a hunger for a hot pasty. And it’s a hunger that, after years of practice, I can quickly satisfy. Two miles into Cornwall on the A30, there’s a couple of butchers in Launceston who make a half-decent oggie; on the A38, I’d recommend Paul Bray & Son in Tideford (10 minutes, the other side of the Tamar Bridge). But I have to say, I’ve kissed a lot of frogs during my long quest for the handsome prince of pasties. Laying down the law on quality is all very well, but there’s a lot of genuinely Cornish pasties out there that couldn’t satisfy a single one of the directive’s must haves. Steak, yes, but just a solitary chunk lost in a sticky potato stodge; or lots of rather grey meat that looks like it’s been boiled, or been through a hot-wash cycle. Add gristle. Add heavy, lardy pastry (pet hate: chomping through a wall of the stuff before you hit the filling). Light seasoning? How many post-pasty hours have I spent looking for pints of water to drown the salt. Personally, I wouldn’t touch a Ginsters. Genuinely Cornish, yes, but I’ve seen and smelt the factory (in Callington, since you asked). What about the ubiquitous West Cornwall Pasty Company? Yep, they are all “hand-made” in Falmouth. Based in Buckinghamshire, though – with outlets in Leeds, Norwich, Reading station, Bristol, Bath (thank goodness, because I do get an urge for a pasty when I’m a long way from home). The important thing – I’ll just get the flag out – is that no jumped-up, made-in-Slough, mince-and-mash, flakey-pastry, crimped-on-top, just-pretending-to-be Cornish pasties can take our name in vain. It’s got to be proper Cornish, OK. With that in mind, here are 5 of the best (in my opinion) places to go for a pasty. Sarah’s Pasty Shop, Buller Street, Looe Since Sarah retired, daughter Lucy carries on the family bakery – knocking out delicious, pasties: rich, moist and packed with quality local produce. Ticks all the boxes – wouldn’t share mine with anyone. • 01503 263973 Village Butchers, Trevellan Road, Mylor Bridge, near Falmouth Big, blokey steak pasties made on the premises by this traditional, family-run butchers. Bit out of the way, but they do good sausages too. • 01326 373713 Horse and Jockey, 41 Meneage St, Helston Proper old-fashioned bakery in down-town Helston, making proper Cornish pasties with beef skirt and veg, wrapped in short-crust pastry. If you get there in time to beat the queue, ask for small or medium – the large is, um, large. • 01326 563 534 The Count House Café, Geevor Mine, Pendeen The pasties are not 100% reliable (go early, before they go limp from hanging around on the cafeteria-style counter), but they are utterly authentic, homemade by Mrs Margaret Burford. The views are fantastic, too (eat your oggie overlooking the Atlantic) and as part of the Geevor Tin Mine museum, you couldn’t get closer to the pasty’s roots. • 01736 788662, geevor.com Ann’s Pasties, Sunny Corner, Beacon Terrace, The Lizard On the subject of pasties, baker Ann Muller, could talk you under the table; her mum wrote a book about them and it runs in the family. Her pasties – made in a shop behind her Lizard home – are among the best, and if you ask nicely (after the lunchtime rush) she’ll show you how to make them. • 01326 290889, annspasties.co.uk I’m sure opinion will be divided on the subject of where to find Cornwall’s finest oggie. Where do you go for a proper pasty?
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.
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Related posts:The ultimate Cornish pasty recipe St Pirin’s Day Cornish Wreckers traditional prayer?
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March 4 2011, 9:41am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Swanpool Falmouth Cornwall
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/4814360527/
AndyRob
Swanpool Falmouth Cornwall
July 21 2010, 4:16am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Swanpool Falmouth Cornwall
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/4814358731/
AndyRob
Swanpool Falmouth Cornwall
July 21 2010, 4:15am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Swanpool Falmouth Cornwall
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/4814980526/
AndyRob
Swanpool Falmouth Cornwall
July 21 2010, 4:14am | Comments »
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