Zeh-Noh Group to launch Japanese restaurant concept in London on Monday: Zeh-Noh Group, the business arm of Japan’s largest agricultural co-operative JA, is to launch a Japanese restaurant concept in London on Monday (23 November). The company is opening Tokimeitē, which takes its name from a colloquial Japanese expression describing a sense of anticipation or “butterflies”, in Conduit Street, Mayfair. The 70-cover restaurant will be set over three floors and feature an open kitchen, Josper charcoal oven and robata grill. It will also have a Chef’s Table private dining space for up to eight that will be available shortly after launch. Internationally renowned chef Yoshihiro Murata, who holds a total of seven Michelin stars across his three restaurants in Kyoto and Tokyo, will oversee a modern authentic Japanese menu based on authentic “wa-shoku”, or Japanese cuisine. An extensive range of premium sakes, shochu and whiskies will complement the food. The restaurant has been designed by acclaimed designer Yasumichi Morita and will take inspiration from Japanese festivals, shrines and temples, and the colour palette is based on warm woods, rich browns and golds.

Punch makes £1m co-investment in Isle of Skye hotel: Punch has made £1m co-investment in the Portree Hotel, Portree, on the Isle of Skye. The hotel now boasts 24 en-suite bedrooms, a 90-seat bar and restaurant, and a meeting and function room. The rejuvenated Portree Hotel is now run in partnership with Punch by local businessmen Calum Gillies and Campbell Dickson. Dickson said: “The hotel is looking fantastic, and we have received positive feedback from local residents who are pleased to see the building brought back to life. I have a young, vibrant team in charge and they have some great ideas for driving the business forward, ensuring that we offer something for everyone. But above all, our priority is to provide excellent service and a warm welcome to all.” Punch’s senior partnership development manager Gavin Stevenson said: “Following this joint investment, the Portree Hotel has been transformed into a stylish destination.”

Liverpool-based street food concept Chips A GoGo to open first UK site in city, eyes further expansion: Liverpool-based street food concept Chips A GoGo is to open its first UK site in the city and is already eyeing further expansion. The concept, launched last year, is opening an outlet in Liverpool ONE and has instructed agent CBRE to source other UK outlets on its behalf. Customers will be given the option to choose the style of chips from sweet to normal fries, sprinkled with a range of seasonings. They can then choose from 20 authentic, home-made toppings varying between creamy mayonnaise to peanut sauce. Chips A GoGo’s UK commercial director Sam Farage told The Business Desk: “After working consistently to improve the concept, we are excited to finally unveil our first unit to Liverpool’s visitors and shoppers. Liverpool ONE is a perfect complement to our brand and this will give the fresh and fast variety that its visitors are looking for. We are now working closely on other locations to bring our vision of quality chips to the rest of the UK.”

Revolution Bars submits plans for Revolucion de Cuba in Aberdeen on site occupied by Wagamama: Revolution Bars Group has submitted plans to open a Revolucion de Cuba in Aberdeen. The company has lodged a change of use application with Aberdeen City Council to convert three units in the Academy Shopping Centre, reports the Aberdeen Evening Express. One of the units is occupied by Wagamama, which also has a restaurant within Union Square and is due to leave the Academy shortly, while the other two are empty. The units are currently under offer. The Cuban-style bar would offer rums, cocktails and Latin-influenced food. If the change of use application is approved, a licence will be sought by Revolution Bars Group for opening from 10am-1am on Sundays to Thursdays and from 10am- 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. Revolution Bars Group also runs the city’s nearby Revolution bar in Belmont Street.

Longhorns Barbecue to open third site in Sunderland at Camerons Brewery pub: Newcastle-based street food specialist Longhorns Barbecue is to open its third site, this time in Sunderland. The company is opening the venue on the first floor of The Dun Cow pub, which is run by Camerons Brewery under its Head of Steam brand, reports the Sunderland Echo. Longhorns, which specialises in barbecue meats, will open at the pub in High Street West next month. Built in 1901, The Dun Cow’s historic features have earned it a ranking in the Campaign for Real Ale’s list of outstanding historical pubs. It was bought on behalf of the Sunderland MAC Trust last year after it went up for sale for £220,000. Longhorns currently operates two venues in Newcastle, in Mosley Street and Jesmond.

Grillstock signs for new Exeter shopping centre dining quarter scheme: Barbecue restaurant Grillstock is set to open a new site in Exeter. The company has signed up to be the fifth restaurant at the Guildhall Shopping Centre’s new Queen Street dining quarter. The restaurant will face the newly remodelled Market Square, which is set to become one of the focal points of the £12m redevelopment. Grillstock managing director Jon Finch told the Exeter Express & Echo: “Our smokehouse in Market Square will provide the perfect location for barbecue fans to appreciate our distinctive offering of authentic recipes, US beers and our relaxed, communal dining experience.” Grillstock will join Turtle Bay, The Stable – which is 51% owned by Fuller’s, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Artigiano’s craft beer bar The Terrace at the new dining quarter, which is due to open next summer. There will be eight restaurants in total with the remaining three tenants due to be announced in the coming months. Grillstock currently has six restaurants across the UK – in Bath, Walthamstow, Leicester, Liverpool and two in Bristol. It has also secured a licence to open in Cardiff – its first outlet in Wales.

Pub operators to open wine shop: The multi-site owners of The Beckford Arms in Wiltshire are to open a wine shop in Tisbury next month. The Beckford Bottle Shop, which opens on Tisbury High Street in mid-December, is part of a “natural extension” of the business, which has been in planning for six months, director Charlie Luxton told the Drinks Business. Luxton, former operations manager at Soho House, and his business partner Dan Brod, who also worked at the private members’ club, opened upmarket country pub The Beckford Arms in Tisbury in 2009. It was named UK Dining Pub of the Year 2013 by The Good Pub Guide and the pair opened their second venture The Talbot Inn in Mells in the same year, bringing former general manager of Babington House hotel and health club Matt Greenlees on board. Entrepreneur Nick Jones, owner of Babington House and chief executive of Soho House UK, is also an investor and silent partner in the business. The 500 square foot shop will stock 300 wines from around the world along with a range of craft beers and premium spirits.

Harry Ramsden’s to stage first pop-up: Harry Ramsden’s is to host its first “pop-up” at the Great Yarmouth Festive Market this weekend. Over the course of the three-day event, from 20 to 22 November, Harry Ramsden’s will be on site serving a range of limited festive edition items including winter vegetable soup and mulled wine, together with a variety of handheld snacks including hot dogs, fish bites and onion rings for Christmas shoppers to enjoy. Joe Teixeira, chief executive of Harry Ramsden’s, said: “More than any other time of the year, Christmas is a time when families come together. And as a brand which has been serving families for over 85 years, events like the Festive Market in Great Yarmouth offer us an ideal opportunity to be an integral part of the local community and engage with customers – old and new – at this special time.” Harry Ramsden’s outlets in Bournemouth, Scarborough, Eastbourne, Blackpool and Manchester will also be involved in a variety of festive initiatives in their local communities over the coming weeks.

Bespoke Hotels buys County Durham coaching inn: Bespoke Hotels has added a County Durham coaching inn to its portfolio. The George Hotel in Darlington offers 29 bedrooms, a ballroom and function space as well as a restaurant and gardens. The acquisition represents Bespoke Hotels’ first foray into the region, standing alongside a growing collection of inns and guest houses across the UK. “We are delighted to welcome The George to the Bespoke family”, said group chairman Robin Sheppard. “It’s a property I’ve long admired, with an esteemed history stretching back over three centuries, and serves to further extend Bespoke’s coverage across the full length and breadth of the UK.”

Geronimo Inns opens new pub in Spitalfields Market: Gastro-pub operator Geronimo Inns, which is owned by Young’s, has opened a new pub in the heart of Spitalfields Market in east London. The company, which is in its 20th anniversary year, has launched The Grocer in Crispin Place. The Grocer has a large bar and a covered terrace and is also one of the few gastro-pubs in the area with a large capacity room for private hire. The menu includes black pudding scotch egg, pulled pork and fennel croquettes with pickled salad, and suckling pig meatballs and scotch bonnet chicken wings with whipped blue cheese. There is also a selection of guest ales, beers and fine wines. Geronimo operates nearly 40 pubs in London and Surrey.

Newcastle-based hotel and bar operator launching third site on Saturday: Newcastle-based hotel and bar operator Gainford Group will open its third site in the city on Saturday. The company is launching Japanese-style bar and restaurant Aveika in the former Chase bar building on Newcastle Quayside next to its Vermont Aparthotel, which opened in the summer on the site of former offices. As well as a modern Japanese cuisine restaurant, where food will be served on authentic Japanese crockery custom-made for Aveika, the venue will have a theatre-style sushi bar and robata grill where diners can watch the specialist chefs at work. It also has a cocktail bar and dance area. A spokesman told Chronicle Live: “Our aim has always been to bring life to the Quayside once again.” Gainford Group also owns Bar Livello in Lower Dean Street, which won North East Bar of the Year at the Benevolent Awards, organised by Licensed Trade International.

Boutique hotel Stoke Place enters administration: A boutique 39-bedroom hotel near Slough is set to be sold after its owner and operator entered administration. Rachael Wilkinson and Matthew Callaghan of PwC were appointed joint administrators of Stoke Place Hotel on 9 November. The company owns and operates Stoke Place, a luxury hotel set in approximately 20.5 acres of grounds based in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. The administrators said their appointment has not affected trading at Stoke Place, which is “open for business as usual”. They added an agreement has been reached in principle to sell the hotel and the deal is expected to complete within three to four weeks of their appointment. During that time, a third party will be running the hotel under licence on behalf of the joint administrators and working alongside the existing management team.

Chapel Down hits £1m crowdfunding target in bid to build new brewery, extends target to £3.65m: Kent-based Chapel Down’s beer and cider arm Curious Drinks has hit its £1m target on crowdfunding platform Seedrs as it looks to expand the business and build a new brewery. It has now extended its target to £3.65m with fund-raising open to February 2016. The company has seen £1,002,200 pledged from 534 investors and it is now “overfunding” – Chapel Down is offering 5.88% of the equity in the business, producing a pre-money valuation of £16m. The largest investment to date is £345,000. Proceeds from the crowdfunding will be used to construct a state-of-the-art new brewery and visitor attraction in Ashford as well as further strengthen the Curious Drinks team, enhance its domestic and international routes to market and further develop the brand. Chief executive Frazer Thompson said the fund would remain open until it reached £3.65m or the closing date, whichever is sooner. He added Curious Drinks now had the minimum required to get the project moving. Demand for Chapel Down’s beer and cider continues to increase with sales growing at about 40% per annum. Thompson said: “We are delighted with how the Curious Drinks fundraising has gone in its first four weeks and are truly humbled by the phenomenal response we have received. We have seen a huge amount of interest from both customers and individual investors. We believe this is testament to the fact that these are not only great beers and cider but also a worthy investment opportunity, and we hope to welcome many more shareholders to Curious Drinks in the coming months.”

Douglas Jack – we expect to hold our Marston’s forecasts: Numis Securities leisure analyst Douglas Jack has reported he expects to hold his profit forecast for Marston’s when it publishes full-year results on Thursday, 26 November. He said: “The FY trading statement was in line, on which basis we forecast a 14% increase in half two profit before tax. In the three years to 2017E, we forecast 28% growth in earnings growth, with net debt/Ebitda falling by 0.4x over this period despite strong expansion and a progressive dividend, yielding circa 4.5%. Destination and premium like-for-like sales grew 1.8% (food 1.7%; drink 1.7%; accommodation higher) in 2015E, with margins up. This performance was ahead of the pubs constituents of the Coffer Peach Tracker (up 0.8% over the year to September 2015) despite Marston’s having a below-average orientation to London. We forecast 1.8% like-for-like sales in this estate in 2016E. 25 new builds opened in 2015E (eight half one; 17 half two). In 2016E, we forecast 23 new builds, including two sites for Revere. Five of these new builds are expected to have co-located accommodation lodges, up from three in 2015E. In taverns, managed and franchised pubs grew like-for-like sales by 2.0% in 2015E, with like-for-like sales up 3.1% in quarter four. We believe this performance was driven by strong trading in franchise pubs, which account for circa 550 out of almost 900 in the taverns estate. We forecast circa 1.5% like-for-like sales for this estate in 2016E. Leased estate average profits rose 4% and brewing like-for-like own brewed ale volumes were up 5% in 2015E. Due to the successful Thwaites’ acquisition, total brewing volumes were up 15%. Our 2016E forecasts assume 2% growth in leased average profits and 3% growth in brewing like-for-like own brewed ale volumes. Whereas some other pub operators have been writing down asset values, it is worth noting that Marston’s last estate revaluation was announced at the interim results and resulted in a positive net revaluation surplus of £54m. We expect to hold our forecasts (2016E profit before tax £99.0m; consensus £98.6m) and estimate that Ebitda growth/dividends should drive a 25% equity return over the next two years if the 10x EV/Ebitda rating holds.”

Hydes launches new company identity: Hydes has launched a new company logo and new pump clips across a range of its most popular cask ales. The new logo is designed to combine a contemporary feel within the typography whilst simultaneously highlighting the company’s heritage with its founding year, 1863, incorporated into the logo for the first time. Hydes corporate identity was last updated over ten years ago and, while the new look represents a significant change, continuity is achieved with the retention of the company’s traditional gold and black colours. The new look is featured on pint and half pint glasses, drip mats, bar runners, letterheads and company cards. As well as the new logo, all these items also feature a brewing process graphic highlighting the company’s extensive brewing heritage. New company signage schemes have also been created and these will be steadily installed across the company’s pubs as they are developed and refurbished over the coming years. Managing director Chris Hopkins said: “We are delighted with our new look, which reflects our forward looking and ambitious approach while retaining, at its very heart, a great heritage of which we are all very proud.”

Entrepreneur launches pinchos concept with support from Merseyside Special Investment Fund: Leisure entrepreneur Tony Burns has launched a Spanish pinchos concept in Liverpool city centre after securing financial support from HSBC and Merseyside Special Investment Fund (MSIF). Pinch on Castle Street is the latest venture from Burns, who previously owned McGuffies bar on the same street. Pinch sells pinchos, also known as pintxos, which are small tapas-style dishes popular in northern Spain and the Basque country. The menu includes cod fritters with chilli sauce, chicken thighs in spicy Basque ketchup, prawns in hot oil, and mussels in garlic and wine. The business serves breakfasts, light lunches, coffees and alcoholic drinks with an extensive cocktail menu. To support the restaurant, MSIF provided a £25,000 loan through the Regional Growth Fund as part of a £150,000 package that included funding from HSBC and the director’s own investment. The opening of Pinch has created seven jobs, with three further staff expected to be taken on before the end of 2015. Burns said: “After I sold McGuffies I took a year off and went travelling around Europe. When I was in Spain I went to lots of pinchos bars where people can spend hours sitting and just grazing on small bites of food over drinks throughout the evening rather than having a big meal and moving on somewhere else.”

Event caterer takes up permanent residency at Pimlico pub: Independent event caterer Hunter VIII Hunter has launched its permanent kitchen residency at The Rising Sun, a traditional London “local” in Pimlico. Heading up the kitchen is co-founder and executive chef Nicole Richardson, who has worked in some of London’s best restaurants and event caterers. The Rising Sun is a family-owned business that maintains its authentic character and warmth with traditional London pub décor, which features stained floorboards and Victorian illustrations.

Broughton Ales set for expansion after acquisition by trio of drink industry executives: One of Scotland’s leading and original craft breweries, Broughton Ales, situated in the Scottish Borders, is now under new ownership led by three enthusiasts, with over 50 years’ experience in building beer brands. The trio of John Hunt, Steve McCarney and David McGowan, have all spent many years working in senior roles with international drinks groups – Scottish & Newcastle, Heineken and Diageo, where they developed a passion for high quality, authentic beers. Broughton Brewery, which was founded in 1979 – its range includes Greenmantle Ale, Old Jock, Hopopotamus IPA and Blonde Lager. McGowan said: “Broughton has a unique position in Scotland’s beer story, built around fantastic product quality, and a brewery in one of Scotland’s most picturesque locations. We are inheriting a wonderful range of beers, from traditional brands like Old Jock to the innovative Hopopotamus. On our first visit, we were struck by the numerous quality awards from a variety of organisations, including CAMRA, SIBA, regional festivals and supermarkets – literally there isn’t enough space on the walls to display them all. We want to build on the reputation for quality, work with our customers, and ensure Broughton is at the forefront of Scotland’s beer resurgence.” The new owners plan to invest in developing the business to realise its potential in the fast growing and evolving craft beer market in Scotland.

ALMR National Restaurant Association Study Tour to Chicago opens for bookings: The Propel and Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) 2016 Chicago Study Tour is now open for bookings. The trip, sponsored by CPL Training and Sky, takes place between Thursday, 19 May and Monday, 23 May 2016. The National Restaurant Association (NRA) draws 58,000-plus industry professionals from all 50 states and 100 countries, seeking the newest innovations and up-to-the-minute information about trends and issues. The ALMR trip provides: insights from industry experts on the rise in fast-casual dining, social media, new and emerging brands, menu development, staff management and a host of other issues – with 70 free education sessions at the NRA show. It also involves two tours of Chicago’s hottest concepts and a market overview briefing sessions from US experts. Paul Charity, managing director of Propel Info, said: “The NRA show combined with our tour of Chicago is a fantastic opportunity to find fresh inspiration and understand the emerging trends shaping the fast-changing US market.” To get more information or to book, email jo.charity@propelinfo.com