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You and Yours: Holiday fines, Pub takeovers, Snail slime

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17/02/2017

Holiday fines, Pub takeovers, Snail slime

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, Holiday fines, Pub takeovers, Snail slime

Holiday fines, pub takeovers, and snail slime.

The UK's biggest tour operator has been fined more than any other. How a big pub takeover could call time on your favourite drink. Would you buy cosmetics made from snail slime?

The UK's biggest tour operator has been repeatedly fined for failing to stick to the travel industry's own code of conduct. Research by this programme shows TUI, which owns the holiday brands Thomson and First Choice, has been fined 48 times in the past two years by the trade association ABTA. 

The government said in their housing white paper that they wanted to look at ways to encourage people to downsize to a smaller home later in life, but the paper contained no proposals for how that can be done. Our listeners told us that they're desperate to downsize but can't - either because they can't find an alternative property that suits their needs, or they just can't afford to. We hear from someone who is trying to find somewhere smaller to rent, and someone trying to purchase a bungalow within their budget. 

Tenants running Punch Tavern pubs are worried they may lose business if a takeover bid by Heineken goes ahead. They say that Star Pubs & Bars, a Heineken owned company, stocks mostly Heineken owned beers and ciders, and that customers might go elsewhere if they have to change the drinks on offer. 

And the spa for snails. The Italian snail farming industry has trebled in 20 years and is now worth £180 million. They say it's mainly been driven by demand from the cosmetics industry, apparently snail slime works wonders for your skin. We visited the laboratory where a new device has been created to extract the slime without killing the snails. The answer, it seems, is to sweat them. 

Producer: Beatrice Pickup
Presenter: Peter White.

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