in brief

Clive Basil

Former Forte senior manager Clive Basil has died after a short illness, aged 52. After graduating he joined Forte as a trainee at the Waldorf hotel. From there he held many positions in the Trusthouse Forte empire, including general manager of the Criterion Banqueting Rooms and the Café Royal, food and beverage executive at the Grosvenor House hotel, and a director of Ring & Brymer. Basil was a member of numerous catering bodies, including the HCIMA and the Académie Culinaire de France, and was an assessor for the City & Guilds. He was also a Lord's Taverner and Freeman of the City of London.

Tom Cobleigh sold

Rank has sold the 110-strong Tom Cobleigh pub chain it acquired in 1996 to a management team led by former Mansfield Brewery chief executive Bill McCosh for £90m. All 2,500 staff employed by the Northampton-based pub chain will transfer with the business. With McCosh as chairman, the new team comprises managing director Jeff Sills and operations director Brian Sawdon (both from Greene King), property director Keith Bennett and continuing Tom Cobleigh finance director Charles Freeman.

McDonald's inquiry

McDonald's has sent a full auditing team to investigate a south Chinese factory that makes toys for a supplier to the hamburger chain. The move follows allegations that City Toys, in Shenzhen, was hiring children as young as 14, in defiance of both Chinese law and McDonald's own code of conduct.