Majestic Wines unveils next day delivery: Majestic Wines has unveiled a significant step in its transformation plan with the launch of a named and next day delivery service for its full wine range. It stated: “The service will be through a new National Fulfilment Centre (NFC) and will bring three main benefits to our customers and people: 1. Improved customer service: Customers will now be able to request flexible delivery options through; click and collect, named and next day delivery services, online and in our 210 stores across the UK. The six bottle minimum online order has been removed and a “No Quibble” returns policy is in place so customers can feel confident they can order their wines online and get their money back if they don’t like their choices; 2. Improved wine availability: To make stores simpler and easier to shop in, each store now has better tailored ranges to recognise local customer tastes. Online there is a full range of over 1250 wines to choose from, including almost 400 fine wines; 3. Making our people’s lives easier: Task will be taken away from stores as approximately 40% of all online orders will now be fulfilled through the NFC. This will allow our people to focus on customer service rather than shifting boxes and organising deliveries. The NFC is managed by Wincanton PLC and based in Greenford. The full roll out of the service will be complete on 2 November 2016, in time for the start of the peak Christmas trading period. We do not expect the new facility to impact earnings in the current financial year.” John Colley, managing director of Majestic Retail, said: “This is a big step in our transformation plan and will help support Christmas trading. We are putting the customer back at the heart of Majestic and can now offer a complete multi-channel experience which will deliver real benefits to our customers, people and therefore our shareholders.”

Henry Fairbanks joins Bermondsey Pub Company: Henry Fairbanks has left Greene King’s premium London arm Metropolitan Pub Company to join the managed division of Enterprise Inns, working within its Bermondsey Pub Company as operations director overseeing the pipeline of conversions to managed. Fairbanks worked for Realpubs, the company founded by Nick Pring and Malcolm Heap that was acquired by Greene King in 2011 for £53m. Greene King created Metropolitan Pub Company to operate the Realpubs estate, its Capital Pub Company acquisition and other premium pubs in the London area. Bermondsey Pub Company sites operate primarily under the “Meeting House” format, an upper mid-market, mixed food and drink offer. Enterprise Inns stated earlier this year: “As we extend our offers within the Bermondsey business we would expect the average capital investment to be in the region of £200,000 with average site Ebitda expected to be in the range of £125,000 to £175,000 and yield returns on investment in excess of 15%.”