It’s a bumper blog…Cheaper petrol and beer! Big respect to all Retailers effected by the troubles :-)

It’s a bumper blog…

Firstly, we send our Respect and Best wishes to all the Retailers effected by the troubles – never have we seen such behaviour and we are here to offer our full support and best wishes to get this fixed.

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There’s been a few retail stories in the news this week so instead of focusing on one or two I’m going to look at a few in a special bumper blog!

We’ve all been witnessing the destruction caused by out of control rioters across London, and it’ll only be a few days until we’ll know about the repercussions of such an act.

Retail will be amongst the hardest hit as a result of the London riots; with shops being looted, damaged and burnt down left, right and centre it’ll be the already struggling high-street that takes a further beating.

However, information concerning the costs of the riots has yet to be released so until then we just have to leave it in the hands of the police and those in charge.

Moving on from the riots that have seen many cars burnt down, I’ve got some much-needed good news for motorists as supermarkets have said they will be cutting the price of petrol.

Asda, the first chain to announce cuts have knocked up to 2 pence off the price per litre of unleaded petrol and diesel. Morrisons followed suit, saying that they will cut unleaded petrol by 2 pence per litre and diesel by one pence per litre at most of its forecourts.  Tesco have also vowed to drop its unleaded and diesel prices, albeit only a penny, it’s a saving no less.

The savings will put a smile back on the face of motorists who recently have been feeling the force of petrol price inflation – however long it takes before that smile turns to a frown is anyone’s guess, as petrol prices notoriously chop and change.

Speaking of change, Unilever have sold their Chicken Tonight and Ragu sauce brands to Symington’s; a food manufacturer based in Leeds, which has a history that spans almost 200 years.

Chicken Tonight, famous for its advertising jingle that swept the nation in the 1990s was sold earlier this week along with Unilever’s other sauces brand, Ragu, in a deal thought to be between £30m to £40m.

Last year the two brands had a turnover of £20m and the deal will increase Symington’s annualised sales to around £150m.

But have no fear fans of the TV ads; David Salkeld, chief executive at Symington’s has explained, “Our plan is to bring back the famous advertising jingle. We think it’s a key part of the brand.”

Elsewhere, breweries are looking into selling weaker strength beer to take advantage of tax cuts. Since March, a 50 per cent duty reduction was applied to all beers of 2.8 per cent alcohol by volume or less. As a result many breweries have begun experimenting with weaker beers in anticipation of a price-driven surge in popularity.

To give you a rough idea, this could mean that a 2.8pc pint could be up to 50p cheaper than its higher-strength counterpart.

And it seems drinkers are happy to comply, as long as the taste isn’t affected, according to research. So keep an eye out for low-cost beer, coming to a pub near you!

And finally…

Debenhams are to sell a copy of the Alexander McQueen bridesmaids dress worn by Pippa Middleton at the Royal Wedding after being “inundated” with requests from customers.

It’s unfair to say Pippa upstaged her sibling bride, Kate Middleton, but there was a lot of focus on the bridesmaid who wore a dress that caught the eye of many.

Reports suggested that the dress cost £20,000, but Debenhams will sell a replica