Money blog: Pubs want 'disgraceful' Co-op TV advert taken off air (2024)

Iceland is searching for up to 250 new sitesfor its Food Warehouse stores as part of its nationwide expansion plan.

Crawley, Brighton, Salisbury and Dundee are among the locations already named by the frozen foods specialists as places they'd like to open new stores.

First launched in 2014, Food Warehouse stores are often located in retail parks and are around three times the size of traditional Iceland shops.

Fortnum & Mason has launched a subscription service to deliver refills for tea, biscuits and jams to your front door every month.

The department store is offering three subscriptions, starting with the Tea Post which costs £100 annually and offers customers a year's supply of monthly refills of a choice of tea blends.

It also comes with a customisable initialled china mug, tin and strainer.

The Biscuit Post costs £20 a month and offers refills of the popular Toffolossus, Chocolossus or Gingerlossus biscuits, available on either three-month, six-month or 12-month subscriptions.

The third subscription, called the Teatime Dispatch, offers a selection of both tea and biscuits, as well as a choice of marmalades or jams.

It costs £25 a month, available on either three-month, six-month or 12-month subscriptions.

Cineworld is drawing up plans to axe dozens of British cinemas as part of a radical restructuring that would also include extensive rent cuts.

Sky News has learned the company, which until last year was listed on the London Stock Exchange, is considering closing about a quarter of its roughly-100 British multiplexes.

Cineworld also wants to renegotiate rent agreements at a further 50 sites, with the remaining 25 untouched by the restructuring.

Sources said the proposals were expected to be formally outlined to creditors including landlords in the coming weeks.

Read Mark Kleinman's full exclusive here...

Publicans have expressed their outrage at Co-op for a "disgraceful" television advert encouraging people to stay at home to watch the football rather than go to the pub.

The 10-second advert suggests people "stay in with two pizzas and four beers" purchased as part of a deal during EURO 2024 rather than go to the pub where, the advert says, it is "hard to see the screen".

In a letter to Co-op's chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq, the Campaign for Pubs accused the supermarket of "openly and deliberately undermining pubs and publicans' livelihoods".

It added it was "disgusted, as well as deeply angry" that the advert was targeting pubs at a difficult time for the industry.

Nearly 800 pubs entered insolvency in 2023, the highest number in over a decade.

The letter read: "You and your management team must surely be aware of what a challenging time it is for pubs and publicans, yet here you are, a supposedly ethical business, openly and deliberately undermining pubs and publicans' livelihoods at this difficult time. It frankly beggars' belief.

"At the time when businesses in England should be uniting in support of the national football team, the Co-op has instead cynically and shamelessly sought to attack another important business sector to try to boost your own profits from the tournament."

The Campaign for Pubs has called on the Co-op to pull the advert and apologise for the campaign immediately.

But a Co-op spokesperson told the Money blog: "The 10-second advert is a light-hearted way of highlighting to our members and customers that, if they have made the choice to stay in to watch the football, we have a cracking pizza and beer deal they can purchase to enjoy in their homes, with the sole intention of providing great value on relevant products which customers tell us they want, especially at a time when the cost of living is high."

Every Monday we get an expert to answer your money problems or consumer disputes. Find out how to submit yours at the bottom of this post. Today's question is...

"I have booked a holiday for 2026 and paid a small deposit. I have an expiring annual travel insurance policy which would cover the booking if I needed to cancel. Is the travel insurance still valid for the booking, if I choose not to reinsure with them?"

Mrs B

Daniel Scognamiglio, partner and travel law team lead at Blake Morgan, said it's the policy in place at the time of the cancellation that is relevant...

"If one policy lapses and you then need to cancel a trip without buying other insurance, you will have no cover for the cancellation.

"There are also other factors to consider, such as the specific policy wording, when the policies were bought, and the reasons behind it.

"It is always advisable to have travel insurance as soon as possible after buying a holiday. Often it is better to have an annual policy that provides cover from the date the holiday is bought and while you are away."

Daniel says most travel policies will pay something towards the cost of the holiday if it must be cancelled for a reason that is not your fault.

He adds: "For example, if you unexpectedly fall ill and are unable to travel. However, it is common for policies not to provide much cover in the event of cancellation. So, it is worth making sure that any cover is for more than the cost of the holiday, in case you do need to cancel.

"It's also important to remember that travel insurance will only cover unexpected events.

"You must have been unaware of any illness (or other reason to cancel the holiday) before buying the travel insurance policy or booking the holiday."

If you knew you had an illness or were about to go through testing when booking your holiday or taking our insurance, you'd have to declare this when buying the policy, as well as any pre-existing medical conditions, Daniel says.

"If you are aware of a medical condition after buying the insurance but before travel, you must also tell your insurers," he explains.

This featureis not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about.Submit your dilemma or consumer dispute via:

• The form above - you need to leave a phone number or email address so we can contact you for further details
• Email news@skynews.com with the subject line "Money blog"
• WhatsApp ushere

After a small break from the election results, we're back for another week of consumer news, personal finance tipsand all the latest on the economy.

This is how the week in the Money blog is shaping up...

Monday: This week's Money Problemfocuses on a query about travel insurance.

Tuesday: We're continuing our eight-partWomen in Businessfeature - interviewing women who are bossing their industry. And this week'sBasically...explains everything you need to know about car finance.

Wednesday: We are back in London for this week'sCheap Eats, where Michelin chefs reveal their favourite spots to get a meal for two for less than £40.

Thursday: Savings Championfounder Anna Bowes will be back with her weekly insight into the savings market.

Friday: We'll have everything you need to know about the mortgage market this week with the guys from Moneyfacts.

Running every weekday, Money features a morning markets round-up from theSky News business teamand regular updates and analysis from our business, City and economic correspondents, editors and presenters -Ed Conway,Mark Kleinman,Ian King,Paul KelsoandAdele Robinson.

You'll also be able to streamBusiness Live with Ian King onweekdays at 11.30am and 4.30pm.

Bookmarknews.sky.com/moneyand check back from 8am, and through the day, each weekday.

The Money team is Bhvishya Patel, Jess Sharp, Katie Williams, Brad Young, Ollie Cooper and Mark Wyatt, with sub-editing by Isobel Souster. The blog is edited by Jimmy Rice.

The Money blog will return on Monday - meantime, why not scroll through some of our best and most popular features below...

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John Lewis is keeping its school uniform prices frozen for the fourth year running.

The department store chain also offers parents an online school uniform checklist to help prepare for the start of the new year.

It also offers a free shoe-fitting service, while some of its newer school uniform products released in the last three years have not seen a price rise.

John Lewis school uniform buyer Cydney Ball said:"Our customers trust us as the one-stop-shop for all things back to school."

Cineworld is drawing up plans to axe dozens of British cinemas as part of a radical restructuring that would also include extensive rent cuts.

Sky News has learned that the company, which until last year was listed on the London Stock Exchange, is considering closing about a quarter of its roughly-100 British multiplexes.

Cineworld also wants to renegotiate rent agreements at a further 50 sites, with the remaining 25 untouched by the restructuring.

Sources said the proposals were expected to be formally outlined to creditors including landlords in the coming weeks.

Read the full story here...

A safety charity has warned England fans against buying cheap electronics online amid a "blitz" of advertising.

Electrical Safety First is urging fans bombarded with ads for discounted goods "don't bring it home" in a new campaign to raise awareness of unregulated online marketplaces.

The charity have previously uncovered substandard and dangerous electrical products across major online marketplaces.

Examples of such include portable heaters posing a serious risk of electrocution, hair straighteners and hair dryers featuring illegal UK plugs and e-bike chargers that pose a fire risk.

"Football, and other global sporting events, are experiencing advertising blitzes by major online marketplaces across the globe, and at a time when millions of people are struggling with finances, we understand how appealing low-cost deals will be," said Electrical Safety First's chief executive Lesley Rudd.

"But it's important for fans to remember that they risk scoring an own goal if the deal they bag turns out to be a substandard or dangerous product.

"Substandard electronics can have serious consequences for your safety and an innocent purchase could put you and your family at risk."

The charity makes the following suggestions to consumers selecting electronics from online marketplaces:

• Pay attention to the plug - if a product is listed with a foreign plug and travel adaptor, do not buy it.
• Do not buy on price alone - not all bargains are worth it
• Make sure you do your homework if you decide to buy products below high street retail prices.
• Beware of a product with solely glowing reviews, especially if the reviewers are not verified.
• Make sure you know where the supplier is based - a "co.uk" URL doesn't guarantee the website is UK-based.
• If there is no address supplied, or there is just a PO Box, be wary; many dodgy electrical goods are manufactured overseas.
• Look for websites that allow you to pay safely – these have a padlock symbol in the address bar of the website you are visiting. If you cannot see it, do not enter your payment details.

Consumer spending on car purchases has risen three times faster than for public transport journeys, new figures show.

Around £57.4bn was spent in the UK on new and used cars in 2023, up 6% on five years earlier, according to AA analysis of Office for National Statistics data.

By comparison, consumer spending on public transport - including rail, buses, flights and taxis - was £60.9bn, representing a 2% increase on five years ago.

AA head of roads policy Jack Cousens claimed the figures highlight how vital motoring was for people in the UK, as well as the country's finances.

He said: "These latest ONS figures underline the UK's reliance on cars and the huge amounts of money they generate for the economy - not to mention VAT on that spending, and other tax.

"Cars are not just necessary but essential on so many levels. Even if a significant amount of car use was transformed into take-up of public transport, the impact on the economy and other income generation would be dramatic.

"Just think how much councils would lose if a high percentage of cars stopped turning up to their car parks or needing parking permits, and getting fined.

"The key question is whether what consumers spend on cars would translate into income for public transport and cover the cost of infrastructure investment to enable that.

"It seems that getting travelling consumers to fork out for their own transport and its maintenance, and then tax the heck out of them, is a pretty good deal for the public purse."

Running a car also accounted for a large chunk of the £78.6bn spent on what is described as the operation of personal transport, with spending on fuel and lubricants up 20% since 2018 to £41.7bn.

New car purchases down

But despite the fact more consumers are spending money on cars than on public transport, the number of purchases of new cars by private buyers has declined for nine months in a row, new figures show.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said 67,625 new cars were registered by private consumers in June, down 15.3% from 79,798 during the same month last year.

Ian Plummer, commercial director at Auto Trader, said: "With average new car prices rising almost 40% over the last five years, it's clear cost is the culprit.

"Manufacturers are responding with discounts but they're failing to keep pace, which is forcing many buyers to opt for a used alternative.

"Whoever forms the next government needs to address electric car affordability and provide long-term stability for the market."

Environmental impact

Despite comments from the AA, the billions of pounds spent by consumers every year on cars is having a clear effect on UK roads - where overall traffic levels in 2023 were 2.2% higher than the previous year.

More cars on the roads means more air pollution, which is among the biggest environmental health risks facing people in the UK.

Burning petrol and diesel fuel creates harmful by products like nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide, while vehicles emit carbon dioxide, the most common human-caused greenhouse gas.

Even electric vehicles produce particulate matter from the friction between their tyres and the road.

Researchers from University College London estimated that 48,625 adults die prematurely each year in the UK due to particulate matter pollution.

Presently, 79% of the UK exceeds the World Health Organization's (WHO) annual mean guideline for safe fine particulate matter levels.