There’s a picture of the playwright Robert Bolt above the bar at Cork of the North, a hybrid-style wine merchant in Sale, on the south of Manchester. A blue plaque high up on the wall outside reveals the reason: the town’s most famous son, the writer of A Man For All Seasons – about the life of Thomas More – and the screenplays…

Industry campaign There’s A Beer For That is switching its focus to lobby against high beer duty in a bid to safeguard the industry’s future. The campaign, funded by most brewers operating in the UK, has previously sought to educate shoppers on the joys of food and beer matching and raise awareness of different beer styles. But now its “singular mission” will be to stop…

Carlsberg is celebrating its 170th birthday this weekend by launching a range of celebrations across its hometown of Copenhagen. Anyone in the UK that wants to get involved and learn more about the brand can watch online footage of a hologram of Carlsberg founder J. C. Jacobsen discussing the brand. Jacobsen launched the brand in the 19th century and was brought back to life…

Heineken has released a humorous new advert for Foster’s, ahead of an on-pack promotion which hits shelves on 25 April. The advert, entitled ‘Drycleaner’, tells the tongue-in-cheek story of a young Aussie who works in a drycleaners while trying to decide what to do with his life. He tries on different uniforms, to see which career suits him best. At the end of the advert…

Some things make better comebacks than others. The Phantom Menace was trite, The Force Awakens was triumphant. Cadbury ironically relaunched the Wispa and it’s still thriving nine years later, whereas its Aztec bar bombed after optimistically returning as the Aztec 2000. Heart-throb boy-band Take That’s comeback album enjoyed huge success, but poodle rock hellraisers Guns ’n’ Roses? Axl Rose is 54 now. Welcome To…

On the surface, life seems generally predictable and familiar. Alarms wake us at the same time every day, insurance premiums go up every year, pubs sell Pinot Grigio by the glass. Yet surprises spring up far more frequently than we might imagine. Who could have predicted that the Conservative party would win a Commons majority? Or that loom bands would become a global craze? Or that Rowan Gormley…

In later life, Dave West became something of self-parody, frequently snapped in trademark flamboyant coloured suits surrounded by glamorous young women, sipping Champagne and enjoying the high life. His murder just before Christmas was the final tragic chapter in the life of an ordinary bloke from a humble background, seduced by the trappings of wealth and power that his success in business brought him. The…