Haven Holidays boss eyes more on-site Wetherspoons pubs and rival takeovers

The boss of Haven Holidays sipped his £2.95 pint of Ruddles — then set his sights on more on-site Wetherspoons pubs and rival takeovers.

Simon Palethorpe met The Sun at Haven’s newest Spoons, with trademark crazy carpets, signs for curry nights and cheap booze.

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Their tie-up was the pub chain’s first foray into the world of franchises — and it now has five Haven pubs.

Mr Palethorpe, speaking at his Kent coast site near Rochester, said of his customers: “They like brands they know, they like certainty over what they’ll spend and Wetherspoons brings that in spades.”

He now wants to accelerate an expansion, adding: “Everybody seeing the results we’ve had would be keen to go a little bit faster.”

Boasting views over the Thames estuary, with TV’s Stacey Solomon and hubby Joe Swash among those owning a caravan, it had 20 per cent more visitors at Easter than the year before.

Overall, 400,000 visited its 39 UK camps over Easter, with 3.6million this year.

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Its boss went on: “I’d definitely love us to have more parks.”

Asked about acquiring rival Away Resorts, he replied: “We’re open to discussion on individual parks, groups of parks.”

It is investing £10million in a new swimming pool and flume in Kent, which will create more jobs.

But it faces a “significant” rise in staff costs due to National Insurance changes.

There is also a fear Labour’s looming Employment Rights Bill will make it harder to hire the 8,000 seasonal workers it relies on.

Mr Palethorpe told The Sun: “We will have to see if the Government actually listens to what the hospitality industry is saying.”

M&S is hit by cyber hackers

MARKS & SPENCER has become the latest British firm to fall victim to cyber criminals.

The retailer yesterday disclosed a “cyber incident” had impacted its store operations over the weekend.

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It temporarily suspended contactless payments and “click and collect” orders to help it manage problems caused by hackers.

M&S said it had restored contactless payments yesterday morning but admitted that click and collect orders were still facing disruption.

It is working with cyber experts to manage the breach and it is understood customer data has not been affected.

Cyber attacks on businesses have become an increasing threat with Morrisons and Sainsbury’s suffering stock shortages before Christmas due to an attack on software provider Blue Yonder.

The Post Office, the BBC, British Airways and Boots have also been hit in the past.

Craft’s nine shop axe

Hobbycraft is shutting at least nine shops in the UK — less than a year after its takeover by Modella Capital.

Modella, which struck a deal earlier this month to buy WH Smith’s high street business, has launched a restructuring of the company.

Nine shops will be shut by mid-July, affecting up to 126 jobs.

But the firm said that the move would help to secure the future of its remaining 99 stores and 1,800 staff.

DCC health sale

Business support services group DCC is selling its healthcare arm for £1.05billion.

It will offload the division, which employs more than 3,000 people, to Healthco Investment, a subsidiary of Investindustrial Advisors.

Donal Murphy, chief executive officer of the London-listed company, said: “Our strategy will continue to build DCC as a market-leading, multi-energy business.”

Shares in DCC dipped by almost four per cent yesterday as analysts had hoped the division would get £1.6billion.

Two of Britain’s biggest mortgage lenders cut their rates yesterday in a boost for homebuyers.

Halifax and NatWest dropped mortgage rates by up to 0.19 per cent and offered 3.94 per cent rates.

It follows similar moves by other lenders last week.

Spending boost

The average household is almost £25 a week better off than a year ago, the latest Asda income tracker says.

Disposable income after bills and spending on essentials is now at £258 a week — ten per cent more than a year ago.

This increase is largely due to easing inflation and falling fuel prices, with both petrol and diesel a lot cheaper.

And average earnings have increased by 5.6 per cent.

But there are warnings that higher utility bills, welfare cuts and a cooler job market may eat into spending power.