Propel Newsletter Archive Page

Reeves’s fruit machine tax gambles with pubs’ futures: About 36,700 fruit and slot machines operate across nearly half of Britain’s pubs, generating £622m of income a year, according to UKHospitality. After existing tax and rent paid to the machine supplier, the trade body estimates these pubs are left with about £385m, or around £8,500 per pub. The Times reports that there are deep concerns across the industry that the chancellor’s plan to raise gambling taxes in the budget will have unintended consequences on an already embattled sector. Pub bosses have warned that a blanket approach to gambling taxation will accelerate closures of thousands of already-struggling community pubs. Nick Mackenzie, chief executive of Greene King, said increasing duty on machine and online slots (MGD) may “inadvertently be the tipping point” for many pubs already grappling with “an avalanche of costs”. “We ask that the chancellor exempts pubs’ low-stake fruit machines from any rise in taxes to avoid placing more costs on an industry she has promised to back”, he said. Analysts at Peel Hunt estimate that JD Wetherspoon would be significantly hit from the mooted increases to MGD. Douglas Jack, an analyst at the bank, estimates increasing MGD to 50% would cost the group £18m “before any remedial action.” Sir Tim Martin, its founder and chairman, said that while fruit machines make up a marginal part of Wetherspoon’s sales “they are an important part of pub economics: a source of income that is already highly taxed”. An increase would be “another straw on the camel’s back”, he said. Industry leaders warned that the government’s calculations may be fundamentally flawed. Rather than delivering the intended tax windfall, the increase could trigger a mass removal of these machines from pubs where they are no longer profitable. Chris Jowsey, chief executive of Admiral Taverns, said the move would have a “devastating impact” on the sector and “hugely damage its potential to support UK economic growth”. For Admiral Taverns, which has about 1,300 community pubs, gaming machines generate, on average, over £6,000 of income, post taxes and charges, a year for its licensees. MGD of 50% would slash this to just an average of £2,625. Jowsey warned: “Increasing MGD would not deliver the intended yields as ultimately, significant numbers of these machines in pubs would no longer be profitable and would be removed. In actual fact, it would accelerate pub closures, cut jobs, hollow out high streets and likely reduce the total tax take from the sector.”

Premium Club subscribers to receive next Who’s Who of UK Hospitality and videos from this month’s Propel Multi-Club Conference on Friday: The next Who’s Who of UK Hospitality will be released to Premium Club subscribers on Friday (21 November), at midday. Another 83 companies have been added to the database, which now features 1,287 companies. This month’s edition will also include 179 updated entries. The companies, listed in alphabetical order, will have their most recent results reported as well as broader information around Ebitda, plans and trading style available. The database merges Companies House information, interviews and other public information to provide an easy to reference and exhaustive guide to the sector. Premium Club subscribers will also receive all the videos from this month’s Propel Multi-Club Conference on Friday, at 9am. They include Mike Spencer, McDonald’s UK & Ireland vice-president of development, discussing the brand’s large-scale reimagining programme across its estate with a target of 200-plus stores refreshed a year as it looks to unlock capacity to drive future growth, how it is looking to open 40 new sites a year, and its approach to the customer journey. Premium Club subscribers also receive access to five other databases: the Turnover & Profits Blue Book, the Multi-Site Database, the New Openings Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database and the UK Food and Beverage Franchisee Database. All Premium Club subscribers will be offered a 20% discount on tickets to Propel paid-for events and discounts on specialist sector reports. Operators that are Premium Club subscribers are also able to send up to four members of staff to each of our four Multi-Club Conferences for free. Premium Club subscribers receive their daily Propel Info newsletter 11 hours earlier than standard subscribers, at 7pm the evening before. They also receive videos of presentations at eight Propel conference events two weeks after they are held. This represents around 100 videos of industry insight over the course of the year. Premium Club subscribers also receive exclusive opinion columns every Friday at 5pm, which include the thoughts of Propel group editor Mark Wingett and a host of industry leaders from across the sector. A Premium Club subscription costs an annual sum of £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Premium Club for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or supplier. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.

Popeyes plans more UK restaurants as it reaches 100 sites: Popeyes UK, the TDR Capital-backed business, has said it plans to keep launching new stores at pace across the country ahead of the opening of its 100th restaurant here. The US-founded chain launched in the UK in 2021 but has rapidly grown on the back of soaring consumer demand for fried chicken, particularly boosted by the growing popularity of chicken as a source of protein. Next week, the business will open its 100th UK site in London Bridge station. The 3,000-square foot site at the station will take the business to 27 sites across London. Popeyes has opened 45 restaurants so far this year and expects this to be near 50 by the end of 2025. Tom Crowley, chief executive of Popeyes UK, said that there is “no public target” for new restaurants but that he believes it can “keep opening at a similar pace” next year. He said: “We’ve had success across the country as well as in London because I think people have really appreciated the authenticity of the brand. We’ve been able to grow quicker than we first anticipated but there are still plenty of opportunities, so I can’t see a reason why we can’t keep opening at a similar pace. I think there are definitely opportunities in greater London but not just there by any means.” Crowley shrugged off suggestions the UK could be reaching “peak chicken” and told the PA that he believes there is still a strong opportunity for further growth. He said: “I often hear this question as to when we will reach peak chicken, but I think the continued rise in demand for customers shows that there is plenty of room to grow. And if you look at the US for example, they have around double the number of chicken restaurants per head than we do here, so there is still potential for more in the market.”

Young’s launches £10m share buyback programme: Young’s has commenced a share buyback programme in respect of its A ordinary and non-voting ordinary shares of 12.5p each for a maximum aggregate consideration of up to £10m, with the purpose of reducing the company’s share capital. It said that the share buyback programme will principally focus on purchasing the company’s non-voting ordinary shares and all shares purchased by the company under the Share Buyback Programme will be cancelled. Last week, Young’s chief executive Simon Dodd told Propel that the company has been “quite cautious on price” and has “no intention of doing any more this year”, and that every geographic region it trades in is in growth. Dodd was speaking after the company’s record half-year results, which saw revenue for the 26 weeks to 29 September 2025 up 5.4% to £263.6m and adjusted Ebitda rise 5.9% to £62.5m, Dodd said: “We’ve been quite cautious on price. We did a price rise in February on drinks, which was 2.6%, and we have no intention of doing any more price this year, unless something extreme happens in the marketplace.”

Messy, relaxed, more fun: why feasting is taking centre place: “Feasting menus” are becoming all the rage in restaurants thanks to diners’ declining appetite for more pretentious tapas-style offerings that offer poorer value, while versions of beef wellington and salmon en croute for heartier appetites are selling up to 70% more at Waitrose. The Times reports that Sunday roasts remain popular but consumers are increasingly “embracing the feast” all week long, said Brakes, a food wholesaler for the restaurant trade. Sharing dishes on menus have doubled in popularity in the past three months, it added, reasoning that “bill shock” was a factor for 46% of people eating out less last year. At the Emberwood in Bath, sharing dishes include southwest ex-dairy côte de boeuf cooked over charcoal hearth and whole monkfish tail wrapped in cured lardo to get the table sharing and talking. “Small plates have their place but you’re often left wanting more,” said its executive chef, David Hazell. “Feasting is very different and far more generous. It’s about having a big dish in the middle of the table for everyone to dig into and plenty to share. It’s relaxed, a bit messy – and that’s exactly the point. It makes a meal feel like an occasion and is a lot more fun.” Glasgow is leading the charge. The steakhouse Gost has a fridge full of tomahawks and T-bone cuts. “They’re aggressively sized steaks designed for feral feasting,” said the manager, Andrew Cruikshank. On Sundays they bring out “Thor’s Hammer”, a sharing roast so popular it has to be booked ahead. “It’s 3.2kg of meat. I’ve never seen two people finish it,” he adds. The feast costs £140 for three courses per head. Brakes said chateaubriand, tomahawks, whole sides of salmon and spatchcock chicken, whole roast cauliflower and celeriac were especially popular for a feast’s centrepiece. “Traditional feasting was commonly reserved for Sundays,” said Danny Silcock, a development chef at Brakes. “Consumers are craving an immersive experience that mimics a communal ‘family-style’ meal. There’s a fatigue towards undersized and overpriced food.” Online searches for “dinner venues for large groups” were up 200% over the last three months.

A taste of the action at chef’s tables: After four seasons of The Bear and the huge success of Boiling Point, audiences appear to want more than just watching restaurant kitchens from their sofas. Now they want in on the action. The Times reports that across the country, demand for chef’s tables, where diners are seated either in the kitchen or adjacent to it, are soaring, according to restaurateurs. Indeed, they say these premium seats, often just feet from the heat of service, have become the dining room’s most coveted spots. Angler, a Michelin-starred seafood restaurant in the City of London, says bookings for its chef’s table have risen 20% this year. Its head chef, Craig Johnston, who appeared on MasterChef: The Professionals, said the demand was coming from a younger crowd of food lovers who wanted a “behind the scenes” experience or those who wanted to mark a special occasion with “great food and good company, rather than the usual night out”. Elsewhere, bookings are rising and new chef’s tables are opening. Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, which runs 32 sites across the UK, reported a surge in bookings for its chefs’ tables, which usually serve a tasting menu. His most recent opening, High, a restaurant on the 62nd floor of 22 Bishopsgate in the City of London, only offers a chef’s table, as the restaurant comprises 12 seats in front of the open kitchen. Guests are served a bespoke eight to 12-course “dining experience” curated by the head chef, James Goodyear. Several chef’s tables have opened since the summer, including a six-seater at Bonheur in Mayfair and a nine-seater at Aces Foodcraft in Fitzrovia. The trend is not confined to London either. At Tallow in Tunbridge Wells, guests can book a place at a marble counter overlooking the kitchen while Glasgow’s Michelin-starred Cail Bruich offers a setup where Lorna McNee, its head chef, serves dishes directly from the pass.