In Brief

Sandbach resurgent Vilified motorway service station Sandbach on the M6 has now won an award for high-quality customer service. The motorway stop in Cheshire was heavily criticised last year and voted the worst motorway service station in Europe by the AA Motoring Trust. Its new award is part of RoadChef's Customer Service Audit programme, carried out in conjunction with independent researcher MORI.

Potatoes back in the pan Potatoes are set to return to menus in 2005, as carbohydrates finally make a comeback. The low-carb craze is already slipping in the USA and is unlikely to gain further ground in the UK. According to researcher Mintel, the diet phenomena has made little headway in the rest of the world. Food faddists in Europe and Australia are now focused on Glycemic Index (GI) labelling, which measures the effect carbohydrates have on blood glucose levels.

Fine for dodgy drinks
A bar in London's Notting Hill has been fined for claiming to sell a premium brand alcohol when in fact it was serving a poorer-quality alternative. The Market Bar on Portobello Road claimed to be selling Smirnoff vodka and Bacardi rum but was substituting them with lesser-known brands. Massive Ltd, the owner of the bar, was fined £500 for two offences of substitution of alcohol, and ordered to pay £7,500 costs.