Table talk
Taking their clients for a ride
It has emerged that the London offices of hospitality recruitment company Berkeley Scott hold a dark and seedy secret. The building at 64 Charlotte Street was a 19th-century sado-masochistic brothel run by a formidable madam who - entirely by coincidence, of course - went by the name of Mrs Berkeley. She made use of an apparatus known as the Berkeley Horse, to which clients were tied spread-eagled and whipped, pricked or asphyxiated to their hearts' content. Extraordinary historical coincidence? Perhaps not. The recruitment company says that it is also keen on providing "comprehensive services" to its clients, and admits that if recession bites it might have to drag the old Berkeley Horse out from the cellar, and…
Must have been a PR gig for Alka-Seltzer
Looking for new promotional ideas to get punters into your function room? How about an explosive suggestion from a Stockport Council press release plugging the facilities at the Town Hall? The ballroom has apparently recently played host to weddings, boxing matches and "a curry banquet with bouncy castle for adults". We're beginning to feel queasy just reading about it.
What? Come again? She said what…? Oh, Helle…
A Danish Euro-MP has astounded the hospitality industry by proposing that bar staff wear earmuffs. Helle Thorning-Schmidt believes the hearing of thousands of leisure industry workers is threatened by noise levels in restaurants, pubs and clubs and is aiming to reduce the noise level at which earmuffs must be worn from 90 decibels to just 83. She also wants a ban on noise levels above 87 decibels in any place of work - which would also rule out live music and discos, to say nothing of football matches. The MEP has failed to explain how customers would be able to order food and drink - and her proposal has been ridiculed. Jonathan Evans, UK Tory leader in the European Parliament, said: "This is the nanny state gone mad. People can go into pubs and clubs, and to concerts, and decide for themselves what noise levels to put up with."
Tie them down to a solid booking
A Two-day sexual bondage workshop scheduled this month at the Ramada hotel in Southfield, Michigan, USA, was pulled (ho, ho) last week after the American Family Association threatened to stage a protest outside the hotel. Organiser Michigan Rope would have provided 16 hours of instruction on bondage safety, harnessing, and skin-cutting techniques. Guests were asked to dress casually and bring their own rope to practise tying their partners. Hotel owner Sam Yono said that he was unaware of the event's sexual content when Michigan Rope booked the workshop. The police said that booking events under false pretences was common.
They'll slide down all the easier
Mcdonald's is the official restaurant of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games being held in Salt Lake City in Utah, USA, this month. In 27 days of operation, the fast-food chain says it will serve 30,000 Big Macs, 16,000 hamburgers and cheeseburgers, 13,000 double cheeseburgers and 11,000 Egg McMuffins to about 3,500 athletes at the event. We didn't realise it was such an endurance test. Still, all those burgers are guaranteed to make the bobsleighs go faster.
