Richard Stringer joins Faucet Inn as operations director: Industry veteran Richard Stringer has joined Faucet Inn, the London multiple led by Steve Cox, as operations director. Stringer previously worked at Barracuda Group as operations director for ten years, responsible for 220 pubs with £150m of turnover of £27m of Ebitda, leaving in 2012. He also served as director of retail at JD Wetherspoon for eight years, joining the company when it had 60 pubs and leaving when it had grown to 550 sites. Following a strong 2012, in which Faucet Inn captured London’s imagination with the innovative pop-up Podium Bar at the entrance to the Olympic Park, Stringer will be responsible for all aspects of the 21-site company’s operations including development of the brand’s menus, marketing and sales. Stringer said: “I jumped at the chance to work with Faucet Inn. It is an exciting and progressive company with exceptional pubs and people, and I am thoroughly looking forward to delivering the next stages of the company’s growth plan.”

Marston’s to convert Hedgehog Inn to Revere: Marston’s is to convert its Hedgehog Inn in Copthorne, West Sussex to the unbranded Revere Pub Company premium format. The pub closed today and will re-open after a refurbishment at the end of May. A total of ten pubs in total are expected to be converted to the Revere format, with 88 bedrooms also offering an upmarket accommodation offer. Colin Sadler, the Marston’s executive who is overseeing the development of Revere, has stressed the importance of wine and coffee in the retail offer. In an interview with the Propel Quarterly magazine at its Libertine site, he said: “I think it’s the biggest wine range ever offered at a Marston’s pub. I think range is becoming more important and if you don’t give people the range they will never experiment. Without over simplifying, if you only sell what you sell - you will only ever sell what you sell. If you don’t give the customer the chance to explore I think that can become a little boring. We have introduced a display wine cage as well. We also have two coffee stations and we want to drive premium quality coffee. We worked hard with the team from Illy Coffee to make sure our coffee offer is right. We retrained staff on coffee service and also the mixing of cocktails – we have a range of eight classic cocktails. Our high street business serves pretty much completely fresh-prepared food - not 100% but around 95% fresh. At Revere sites, we are 100% fresh and everything is made on site. I think if you are trying to sell yourself on big wow flavour you have to have the skill levels and the capability to cook great food on site. If you are paying £20 for a steak you expect the whole menu to be of that quality.”