The Richard Spooner Column: Ghosts of Christmas parties past�

We had the department Christmas bash yesterday. A few beers and a nice Indian meal in a city centre restaurant went down very well.

This followed a generous office gathering last week at the Hotel du Vin, where a good time was had by all and several awards were dished out.

I only mention this because data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that 75 per cent of businesses in the food and accommodation industry were considering raising their prices for businesses because of a shortage of bookings.

An independent research organisation which looked at the other side of the coin came to the conclusion that 36 per cent of businesses were having to strip back their Christmas parties in 2022 to save on costs.

So all credit to those who are able to stick to the tradition of giving their staff and treat at Christmas.

As you may imagine, my experience of Christmas office dos goes back a long way. I must say that their quality varied in many ways, especially in the newspaper industry.

My first on a weekly newspaper comprised only a half of bitter and a pork pie in the local working men 's club (do they still exist or are they all working persons ' clubs now?). And it wasn 't much of an occasion because the entire editorial staff comprised the editor and me. Still, he did give a 10 bob note (50p today) for a lavish night out.

This was in total contrast to my next newspaper in a city not a million miles from this parish. The usual multi-edition evening produced just one early edition on Christmas Eve and afterwards gave the whole editorial floor over to a party with food and booze laid on by the proprietors.

(It was always said that if a jumbo jet landed in the city high-street we would produce a further edition no matter the progress of the jollifications).

If you were of a senior enough position you were also lucky enough to be treated to a brace of pheasants, shot on the press baron 's estate. In future years they realised that most of their city-dwelling senior execs hadn 't a clue what to do with these two feathered creatures.

So in future years you were allowed the choice of a brace of fine wine - which always went down well at Spooner Towers.

Then things even took a turn for the better when on a bigger evening newspaper much closer to this parish not only held an office bash with carol singing led by the editor and a hired “choir ” but also “went on ” afterwards in the town with personnel staying overnight at their own expense.

Amazingly, newspapers in London had an entirely different approach. They would just hold a party taking in the whole of Fleet Street so it was pretty much like every day of the year.

Except there was a twist with a sting in the tale one year when well before Christmas the editor announced that he was taking his senior execs to a swanky Mayfair club for an evening to discuss the future of the paper.

The object, he said, was to have in a relaxed atmosphere, a close look at the objectives of the newspaper and to “stimulate a useful dialogue about our approach to the job in the future ”.

His secretary said in our invitation: “The editor asks you to consider: Are there things we should be doing and don 't? Are there things we are doing and shouldn 't?. ” Very cerebral�but I only remember a sumptuous meal and splendid wines with few great thoughts emerging from a table occupied ominously by 13 of Fleet Street 's finest.

At the same time he assured us that the future of the newspaper was safe and that its rival would be the first to close.

And so, it came to pass, that just before Christmas, it was announced that our newspaper would indeed close. Add insult to injury, it would merge with the rival for which our dinner host was appointed editor.

A bit like that scene in TV 's The Office where Ricky Gervais 's character David Brent announces that the staff were being made redundant but the good news was that he had been promoted.

So the festive season in Spooner Towers that year took on the atmosphere of Charles Dickens ' A Christmas Carol. But, like Bob Cratchit, there was a happy outcome and you can read all about it in a new book by yours truly to be published shortly.

Watch this space�

JL