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A GLASGOW restaurant owner last week welcomed the initial findings of a City probe into the sale of interest-rate hedging products (IRHPs) – complex financial products sold by banks alongside or as part of business loans. IRHPs, also known as interest rate swaps, were sold by banks to SMEs, largely between 2001 and 2006, to insure commercial loans against the possibility of interest rates soaring.

THE Wine and Spirit Trade Association is the latest trade group to appeal for the alcohol duty escalator to be scrapped. The organisation, which represents more than 300 companies in the wine and spirits industry, met with economic secretary to the treasury, Sajid Javid, earlier this month to put forward its argument for removing the escalator, which increases duty by 2% above the rate of inflation each year.

FORGIVE me, dear reader, for this moment of reflection. After 11 and a half years on the trade beat, and occupying the editor’s chair for nearly the past eight, I’m moving to a new journalistic parish. On a personal level, it’s the right time for a fresh challenge, but it’s with a treasure trove of memories, and a healthy dose of gratitude, that I make the move. The trade was a different place when I was introduced to its intoxicating mix of people and politics in the summer of 2001. Back then anything seemed possible.

BREWERS have issued fresh calls for chancellor George Osborne to scrap the alcohol duty escalator in next month’s Budget, claiming it is pushing the price of a pint out of reach for many people. The beer firms say the annual 2% above the rate of inflation increase, brought in by the previous government in 2008 and continued under the coalition, is hampering growth in the sector and contributing to pub closures and job losses.

A CAMPAIGN to levy a tax on sugary drinks is another example of the licensed trade being treated as a “cash cow”, according to one of the UK’s biggest pub chains. JD Wetherspoon says proposals put forward by the charity Sustain would heap pressure on an industry already paying more than its fair share to the Treasury. More than 60 organisations, including Friends of the Earth, the Scottish Cancer Prevention Network and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, have backed a report calling on the government to implement the tax at the next Budget.

HUNDREDS of small and medium-sized enterprises around the UK, including Scottish hospitality businesses, may be in line for compensation from their banks after an initial probe by the City regulator found widespread mis-selling of products designed to protect businesses from fluctuations in interest rates. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) announced last July it planned to investigate what it said were “serious failings in the sale of IRHPs” (interest rate hedging products).

BREWERS have unveiled their wholesale beer price increases for 2013 – leaving operators in a dilemma over whether to put up prices at a traditionally quiet time of year for the trade. Molson Coors and Carlsberg were the first of the major brewers to put through wholesale price increases for the new year. The Carling owner broke first, upping its prices by an average of 3.1% (equal to £15 on a barrel, or 5p on a pint, of Carling) from January 14, followed by Carlsberg, which added 5p a pint to its wholesale beer prices on Monday (January 21).

TALKS are at an advanced stage to bring back a National Licensing Forum in Scotland, in a move designed to give all stakeholders an equal share in the future direction of alcohol policy. Justice minister Kenny MacAskill confirmed in an exclusive interview with SLTN last week that the Scottish Government Alcohol Industry Partnership, whose members include drinks firms, trade groups and health interests, was talking to interested parties about who will sit on the body and appointing a neutral chairman.

A LONG-standing campaigner for pubco reform welcomed the move by business secretary Vince Cable last week to make the country’s biggest landlords accountable to government in their relationships with tenants, saying it could signal a brighter future for hard-pressed leaseholders in Scotland. Cable surprised industry watchers when he announced that the Coalition would consult on putting the code of practice that sets out the pubco-tenant relationship on a statutory footing in the spring. The Lib Dem minister also confirmed plans to appoint an independent adjudicator to address unfair practices in the industry.

SCOTTISH Government plans to stop members’ clubs abusing the licensing system have been welcomed by the trade. The Further Options for Alcohol Licensing consultation, launched before Christmas, has seen ministers respond to long-held concerns from operators that some clubs are “abusing either the letter or the spirit of the rules by operating in direct competition with local licensed premises” – despite enjoying certain privileges and not being subject to the same restrictions as mainstream pubs.