News bites: A round up of what’s hitting the headlines

Easycurry has agreed to rename its business after being threatened with High Court action by budget giant Easygroup.

The Indian restaurant said it had taken legal advice and would be backing down after Easygroup accused them of copying their brand and image. Opened four weeks ago, Easycurry charges customers just £5 and then asks them to contribute whatever else they think their meal is worth.

Bernard Matthews looks set to revamp its image by announcing an overhaul of its products. From September, all products will be made from 100% British turkey produced on its farms across East Anglia. The company suffered losses of £10m after an outbreak of bird flu damaged the company's image. Noel Bartram, chief executive, said: "This repositioning of the company is the result of extensive planning with 2007 having been an exceptionally difficult year."

Hand Picked Hotels, the collection of 17 country house hotels located throughout the UK and Jersey, has launched a new rewards incentive for its business, meeting and events bookers entitled 'Escape the crunch and take the credit.' The new campaign, set to run from now until April 2009, will reward conference and event bookers with credit crunch busting rewards on bookings of £3,500 or more. Bookers may choose their preferred reward from petrol vouchers, supermarket vouchers, car tax stamps and mobile phone top-up within their booking value band. Booking values are tiered in six bands, with a fixed reward value for each band.

Beach front restaurant, WestBeach, has been praised by Bournemouth Tourism for putting the town in the spotlight after scooping large helpings of high profile national press. The restaurant's most recent triumph saw it climb three steps ahead of Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, to make it to 7th place in the Sunday Telegraph's Top 50 Summer Restaurants. In the article WestBeach was described as, "as hip and sexy as the town it inhabits" and "if you can take your eyes of the Euro-babes, there is a great view of the pier."

The NFU has triumphed at the prestigious CBI Trade Association Best Practice Awards. At London's Park Lane InterContinental hotel, the organisation was named Trade Association of the Year 2008 as well as picking up awards for best Environment Initiative and Magazine of the Year for British Farmer and Grower. In their summary, the judges said the NFU was a worthy recipient of the award after rising to the challenges of last summer's flooding, avian flu, an outbreak of foot and mouth and the arrival of bluetongue in superb style, reinventing itself by driving its roots down into its core constituency. The judges said the NFU responded with leadership to crisis after crisis, both as a voice and lobbyist for the industry and in very practical ways as well.

The Town House Collection has teamed up with Inverarity Vaults to host a monthly Wine Academy for staff. All interested staff from The Bonham, The Howard, The Edinburgh Residence and Channings are given the opportunity to develop their wine knowledge and service standards through various training and tasting sessions. The Wine Academy provides staff with a basic introduction to wine, the opportunity to learn about the different grape varieties from all over the world, how to marry wine with food and the art of trading up.

Words: Clare Riley

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