Warning as 155 stomach bug cases linked to winter sun destination

Health authorities have issued a warning over travel to Cape Verde after cases of Shigella and Salmonella were linked to the winter sun destination.

Several Britons are known to have died after contracting stomach bugs while on holiday in the island country, which is popular with British holidaymakers.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said last week that its investigation had identified more than 150 people from the UK who had fallen ill with bugs that can cause severe diarrhoea, fever and stomach cramps.

Led by UKHSA, together with other public health agencies, investigators found that, of the 118 Shigella cases reported since 1 October and linked to international travel, some 112 (95 per cent) of those people had been to Cape Verde, the majority to the Santa Maria and Boa Vista areas.

The UKHSA also identified increases in cases of Salmonella in people who travelled to the holiday destination.

Since 1 October, 43 cases of Salmonella from three separate clusters – identified using whole genome sequencing techniques – have been linked to travel to Cape Verde, it said.

Irwin Mitchell solicitors are representing the families of the six people who have died, and more than 1,500 people who have fallen ill, after visits to Cape Verde.

It said four British people died within four months after being struck down with stomach bugs while on holiday there.

Dr Gauri Godbole, deputy director for gastrointestinal infections and food safety at the UKHSA, said: “February is a popular time for winter sun holidays and we want to help families make the most of their breaks by staying healthy.

“Taking a few simple precautions against traveller’s diarrhoea and food poisoning can make all the difference.

“The best way to avoid gastrointestinal infections, including shigella and salmonella, or passing them to others, is simply by washing your hands regularly and thoroughly with soap and water or alcohol gel – particularly after using the toilet, changing nappies, and before eating or preparing food.

“Most episodes of traveller’s diarrhoea are short-lived, lasting for a few days.

“During an episode of diarrhoea and vomiting, it is important to prevent dehydration, particularly for young children, pregnant women, elderly people, and those with pre-existing illnesses as they can develop complications.

“Continue to hydrate yourself with plenty of fluids and consider purchasing sachets of oral rehydration salt before travelling.

“If symptoms worsen or you have underlying medical conditions, please seek advice from your GP or pharmacy.”

A new UKHSA study found local swimming pools, local water and poor sanitary conditions, as well as possible infection from hotel buffets and excursions, can increase the risk of infections like salmonella, shigella, giardia and cryptosporidium.

Elena Walsh, 64, from Birmingham, Mark Ashley, 55, of Bedfordshire, 64-year-old Karen Pooley, from Gloucestershire, and a 56-year-old man, all died last year after contracting severe gastric illnesses while on the islands off the coast of west Africa. These cases are being handled by Irwin Mitchell.

Mr Ashley’s wife Emma, 55, said her family are in “complete shock” over his death.

“We went to Cape Verde expecting a relaxing break, but Mark became violently ill and never recovered,” she said.

Three days into their holiday in October, Mr Ashley, a self-employed forklift truck driver, fell ill with symptoms including stomach pain, diarrhoea, vomiting, fever and extreme lethargy, Irwin Mitchell said.

Mrs Ashley, an early years assistant manager, said they booked their more than £3,000 trip with Tui, and she reported her husband’s illness on its app on 9 October.

She said she and her husband, who had been married for 26 years, stayed at the five‑star Riu Palace Santa Maria resort in Sal.

Mrs Ashley has raised concerns over the hygiene standards at the hotel.

After collapsing at home in Houghton Regis, Mr Ashley, who had diabetes which was controlled through medication, was taken to hospital on 12 November but was pronounced dead minutes later.

Part-time nurse and mother-of-one Ms Walsh died in August 2025 after falling ill while staying at the Riu Cabo Verde resort on the same island.

Ms Pooley, from Lydney, travelled with a friend to the Riu Funana resort in Sal on 7 October, 2025 for a fortnight’s holiday costing £3,000 and booked through Tui, the law firm said.

The retired mother-of-two became sick on 11 October with gastric symptoms including diarrhoea, and in the early hours of the next day she slipped on water leaking from a fridge while going to the bathroom.

She was transferred to a local clinic and over the next four days Ms Pooley continued to experience diarrhoea and vomiting, alongside severe pain from her fractured femur.

The 64-year-old was airlifted to Tenerife for urgent care on 16 October and died in the early hours of the next day, lawyers said.

Her husband Andy, 62, said: “We’re utterly heartbroken. Karen was the kindest, loveliest person.

“She was a devoted wife and mum who loved swimming, walking the dog in the Forest of Dean, and volunteered at a local charity shop. She was also a wonderful friend who lit up every room she entered.

“We’re devastated and struggling to understand how she went on holiday and never came home.”

Irwin Mitchell said Ms Pooley’s initial death certificate, issued by the Cape Verde authorities, said she died of multi-organ failure, sepsis, cardio‑respiratory arrest and a broken left leg.

The other two Britons who have died since 2023 are Jane Pressley, 62, of Gainsborough, who died in January 2023 after falling ill while holidaying at Riu Palace Hotel in Santa Maria, Sal, the previous November, and a man in his 60s from Watford.

He died in November 2024 after suffering gastric illness following a trip to Cape Verde, Irwin Mitchell said.

Families of all six people are making personal injury claims for damages against Tui, the provider of many package holidays to the island country.

Jatinder Paul, serious injury lawyer at the firm, said: “In my experience, I’m used to supporting holidaymakers who have fallen ill at resorts across the globe, but I’ve never seen repeated and continued illness outbreaks at the same resorts on such a scale over such a period of time.”

The UKHSA has updated its travel advice on the Travel Health Pro website for Cape Verde.

It urges people to choose food that is freshly prepared, fully cooked and served piping hot.

In areas without a reliable clean water supply, drink only bottled or boiled water, including when brushing your teeth, and avoid ice in drinks, it added.

People are advised to only eat fruit they peel themselves and avoid salads that may not have been washed in safe water.

Shigella is a gastrointestinal bug that can cause severe diarrhoea, fever and stomach cramps. It can be caught from contaminated food, water or surfaces.

Salmonella is often caused by eating or handling contaminated food.

Trump again shares map threatening US takeover of Greenland and Canada

President Donald Trump responded to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl message of American unity with a stark reminder of his expansionist ambitions.

Toward the end of his halftime set Sunday, the Puerto Rican singer was handed a ball with the words “Together, we are America” written on it.

His show was widely interpreted as a rebuke to the president’s tough anti-immigration crackdown, which Bad Bunny has vocally opposed.

Apparently, this did not go down well with Trump, who slammed the performance and claimed it was “an affront to the Greatness of America.”

“The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense,” Trump wrote on Truth Social approximately 30 minutes after the set ended.

The president appeared to double down on his criticism with a subsequent post on Truth Social, resharing an AI-generated image that illustrated his dream of an expanded American empire.

In the background of the picture is a map of the Americas that also shows Greenland, Canada and Venezuela covered in the U.S. flag.

The doctored image was first posted in January during an international dispute over the future of Greenland. It shows Trump in the Oval Office with various European leaders including British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, French president Emmanuel Macron and president of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen.

Resharing the provocative post risks reigniting the argument over Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

President Trump has insisted the island must become part of the U.S. for security reasons, even though an existing treaty with Denmark already allows the U.S. full military access to Greenland.

Trump previously refused to rule out sending in armed forces, before walking back that suggestion at the Davos summit in Switzerland in January.

In another AI-generated image shared by Trump a few weeks ago, he was shown planting the American flag on Greenland alongside Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. A sign in the foreground reads: “GREENLAND – US TERRITORY EST. 2026.”

Trump isn’t the only U.S. figure who has shared pictures of Greenland with the Stars and Stripes of late. Earlier in January, Katie Miller, conservative podcast host and wife of White House advisor Stephen Miller, shared a picture of the territory with an American flag on it, with the caption: “SOON.”

The president’s resharing of the image also threatens to raise tensions between the U.S. and Canada.

A few weeks ago, Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on goods imported from Canada if the country went ahead with a trade deal with Beijing, and he has repeatedly trolled his northern neighbors by suggesting they become the 51st state of the United States.

Trump’s push to acquire Greenland has alarmed Canada, which shares a 1,864-mile maritime border with the territory.

Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is astonishingly bad

Our modern literacy crisis has found a new figurehead in Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. It’s Emily Brontë’s 1847 classic for a culture that’s denigrated literature to the point where it’s no longer intended to expand the mind but to distract it.

With its title stylised in quotation marks, and a director’s statement that it’s intended to capture her experience of reading the book aged 14, it uses the guise of interpretation to gut one of the most impassioned, emotionally violent novels ever written, and then toss its flayed skin over whatever romance tropes seem most marketable. Adaptation or not, it’s an astonishingly hollow work.

Some of this, it can be argued, was already signalled by the film’s casting and the choice to obliterate any mention of race, colonialism, or ostracisation in the telling of pseudo-siblings Cathy and Heathcliff’s destructive codependence. Heathcliff, whose ethnically ambiguous appearance is of great concern to every other character in the book, is played by white Australian actor Jacob Elordi.

A blonde-and-blue-eyed Margot Robbie plays Cathy, who, while far more accepted than Heathcliff, still exhibits in the source material a desperation to fit a social ideal represented by the wealthier, blonde-and-blue-eyed Lintons, Edgar and Isabella (here played by Shazad Latif and Alison Oliver).

Fennell has no interest in such narrative tensions, or really in any of the emotional drive of Brontë’s novel – a naked rage so extreme that a contemporary critic wondered how anyone could write such “vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors” and not kill themselves after a few chapters.

Fennell only adapts the first half of the novel – a tradition since the 1939 film (the earliest extant version) that carried through to Andrea Arnold’s 2011 iteration, the most spiritually faithful take. Accuracy, then, isn’t the primary issue – tone is. And “Wuthering Heights” is whimperingly tame compared even with Fennell’s own work. There’s a hell of a lot more Cathy and Heathcliff in the messy, self-destructive, self-loathing characters of Promising Young Woman (2020) or Saltburn (2023) than there is here.

Heathcliff, for one, has become a wet-eyed, Mills & Boon mirage created entirely to induce swooning, always on standby to shield Cathy from the cold and rain. How infinitely dull he is compared to the complicated, challenging figure we meet in the book: a victim of abuse so dead-set on vengeance that he becomes as monstrous as those who harmed him.

Fennell, in her script, has conflated Heathcliff’s chief abuser, Hindley, with Cathy’s father Mr Earnshaw (Martin Clunes), and made Cathy and Heathcliff equal targets of his violence. This, in turn, flattens the entire story into that of a poor maiden who escapes her dire circumstances by marrying a wealthy man, Edgar, who loves her but is dull, all while she yearns for her soulmate who has not a penny to his name. When Heathcliff leaves, only to come back rich, it’s presented here as a romcom makeover and not a man’s mission to acquire enough financial power to ruin the lives of everyone he hates.

“Wuthering Heights” is so affronted by the notion that Heathcliff might be anything other than a dreamboat that it builds a world around him that’s more suited to a fairytale than a Gothic masterwork. Jacqueline Durran’s costumes and Suzie Davies’ sets quote cinephile classics like Jacques Demy’s Peau d’âne (1970) and Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bête (1946), while paired with Linus Sandgren’s soft-as-butter cinematography.

But when faced with Brontë’s own vivid, thorny language, all those fantastical red riding hoods and arm-shaped candle holders look as garish as a live-action Disney film. If there’s an exception, it’s Charli xcx’s and Anthony Willis’s musical contributions, which offer a dread that’s missing from everywhere else.

As a sadomasochistic provocation – another of the film’s stated intents – it’s equally limp. A hanged man with an erection drives a village into a Bacchanalian frenzy. A woman wears a dog collar and barks. But these scenes aren’t provocative when they’re so expressly played as a joke, mostly with a fetishistic view of class that categorises poor people as sexual deviants and rich people as clueless prudes.

And the supposedly “wild” Heathcliff never does anything to Cathy that couldn’t be spotted in the average Bridgerton episode. Mostly, he sticks his fingers in her mouth. Robbie and Elordi don’t entirely lack chemistry, but their characters do feel so thinned out that their performances are pushed almost to the border of pantomime. She’s wilful and spiky. He’s rough but gentle. That’s about it.

Perhaps there’s a more graceful takeaway from all this. If “Wuthering Heights” were true to the spirit of what it feels like to read Wuthering Heights, at any age, it wouldn’t be a film you could market with brand tie-ins and Valentine’s Day screenings. It would disturb people. So, what is Fennell’s loss is only Brontë’s gain. She remains singular.

Dir: Emerald Fennell. Starring: Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, Ewan Mitchell. Cert 15, 136 minutes.

‘Wuthering Heights’ is in cinemas from 13 February

Lindsey Vonn undergoes second operation following Olympics leg break

U.S. skiing great Lindsey Vonn has undergone two operations in Italy following a severe leg fracture sustained during a highly anticipated Winter Olympics race.

The 41-year-old, who was competing with a torn ACL, suffered the horrific injury just 13 seconds into her audacious bid for downhill gold, which ended in agony on Sunday.

Vonn was airlifted by helicopter from Cortina d’Ampezzo to the Ca’ Foncello Hospital in Treviso.

A source close to the matter confirmed on Monday that a joint team of local orthopaedic and plastic surgeons performed the procedures.

These operations were crucial for stabilising her and preventing complications related to swelling and blood flow.

While Vonn’s personal doctor was present and assisted, Italian surgeons led the medical interventions.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee did not respond to a request for comment about the treatment for Vonn, one of the most decorated ski racers in history.

The hospital had said on Sunday that she underwent an operation to stabilise her left leg but did not mention a second procedure. She suffered the ACL injury to her left knee in late January.

The hospital had initially said it would provide a further update on her condition at 1100 GMT on Monday but this plan was scrapped and further information was expected to come from the U.S. delegation.

A small group of reporters waited outside the hospital in Treviso, which is a short drive from Venice, but it was otherwise a regular day there with no well-wishers turning up.

The case has highlighted a debate in elite sport over who decides when an injured athlete is fit to compete and what message those decisions send.

International Ski Federation President Johan Eliasch said the competitor had to make up their own mind.

“I firmly believe that this has to be decided by the individual … And in her case, she certainly knows her injuries a lot better than anybody else,” he told reporters on Monday.

“And what is also important for people to understand that the accident that she had yesterday, she was incredibly unlucky. It was a one in a thousand. She got too close to the gate, and she got stuck when she was in the air in the gate and started rotating.”

Sebastien Amiez, a former French skier and Olympic silver medallist, said Vonn only took part in the race in Crans-Montana on January 30 where she ruptured her ACL because she had been doing so well in the World Cup.

“Her original goal was to peak at the Olympic Games. But she won early races, led the World Cup, and as a champion she wanted everything. Yesterday, unfortunately, her luck ran out — that’s how it goes,” he said.

The U.S. ski team had inspected several facilities before selecting Treviso, some 125 km (80 miles) from Cortina, favouring it over a closer hospital in Belluno because Treviso also has a neurosurgery department, the source said.

Vonn has been inundated with messages of support from the sporting world and beyond.

“You are a great inspiration and an example of perseverance,” said tennis great Rafa Nadal. “Stay strong and get well soon!”

Son of Jimmy Lai fears he will never see father again after media tycoon’s 20-year sentence

The son of jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai said his father had been effectively issued a death sentence as he was sentenced to a further 20 years in prison on Monday.

Sebastien Lai said the verdict was expected but “still devastating” and left him doubtful as to whether he would ever see his ailing father again.

Mr Lai, the 78-year-old founder of the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, was found guilty of collusion and sedition in his national security trial last year, five years after his arrest under the controversial national security law. He denies the charges.

His son told The Independent that his father was still “strong in spirit” despite “all these attempts to break him, including torture, confinement and horrible conditions that he’s been kept in.

“Even being held in solitary confinement for 10 days is insane for most people. He’s done 1,800 days of that. It’s inspirational,” he said, describing his father as his hero and adding: “Someone who has given up so much for freedom, I think, surely deserves some of it himself.”

Announcing their verdict on Monday, the three judges said Mr Lai’s sentence fell within the harshest penalty tier for offences of a “grave nature”, accusing him of being the driving force behind persistent foreign collusion conspiracies. The sentence drew uproar from the British government and other democracies around the world.

Mr Lai’s son said: “It’s one of those moments where I think to myself, ‘Am I ever going to see my father again?’ He’s already been there for five years. Given his health conditions, I don’t even know if he’s got a tenth of that. So it’s obviously tremendously hard.

“I think one of the things that gave me a bit of strength was that in court, when they announced it, Dad was stoic and he flashed a small smile because I think he knew that this was coming and he wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of showing any sad emotions.

“Also, he knew that he did the right thing. I think that’s what is most important is that he’s a man who at every turn and every opportunity did what was right.”

He said his message to his father, who has only been able to receive letters since late 2020, would be “that I miss him a lot, that I love him a lot. But that I’m incredibly proud of him”.

Sebastien Lai said he believed history would remember the media tycoon as “a very good man … who was willing to give everything that he had to stand for what was right”.

He said: “I think people always think of the death of press freedom as a bang. Unfortunately, as you see from my father’s case, it sounds more like drowning. It sounds like the air being sucked out of a room. And nobody really thinks about press freedom until there’s no press freedom anymore… It’s a farce.”

He added that he did not know if there would be the ability to appeal the verdict, describing the legal system in Hong Kong as “broken”.

Sebastien Lai said he had to remain optimistic that his father could still be released, urging the British government to make the resetting of relations with China conditional on his father’s release. He said that “time is running out for my father”.

“Many people in this country are very worried or have national security concerns in regards to China. They have done nothing to abate that. And we’re not going to normalise what’s happening to my father. That’s just completely unacceptable.”

“In order to have a closer relationship, my father’s release should be a precondition for that. And if they’re not even willing to do something so right, so humane, so simple, what can we possibly expect from that relationship with Hong Kong and China?”

Britain, the US, Australia, the European Union, Japan and Taiwan expressed concerns about the impact of the sentencing. Foreign minister Yvette Cooper said Britain would “rapidly engage further on Mr Lai’s case”.

“For the 78-year-old, this is tantamount to a life sentence,” she said. “I remain deeply concerned for Mr Lai’s health, and I again call on the Hong Kong authorities to end his appalling ordeal and release him on humanitarian grounds, so that he may be returned to his family.”

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the sentencing was an “unjust and tragic conclusion” to the case and urged authorities to grant him “humanitarian parole”.

Anitta Hipper, spokesperson for the European Commission, said the “politically motivated persecution” would harm Hong Kong’s reputation.

“The EU calls on the Hong Kong authorities to restore confidence in press freedom in Hong Kong, one of the pillars of its historic success as an international financial centre, and to stop prosecuting journalists.”

Explore Norway’s fascinating past and rich heritage on a Nordic cruise

Norway’s coastline is the second longest in the world, spanning almost 103,000 kilometres and folding around fjords, islands and skerries. For centuries, this vast, broken shoreline has shaped how people lived, travelled and traded, and long before roads existed, the sea was the only way to connect it all.

That’s why the very best way to explore Norway’s timeless history is still by ship. Hurtigruten has been sailing these very waters since 1893, following a route that binds the country together and reveals its history bit by bit, port by port. Rather than hopping between the tourist traps, each voyage traces the story of Norway, one built on fishing, faith and folklore.

Bryggen’s wonky wooden warehouses came about from centuries of dried-cod trade with Europe, and the narrow streets between them still feel like they belong to the merchants who once hauled goods in from the ships.

Further north in Trondheim, Nidaros Cathedral (pictured above) comes into view almost by surprise, rising from the riverbank as a stark reminder of the city’s medieval past and its long history as a place of pilgrimage.

Elsewhere, fishing villages such as Gjesvær and Rørvik sit directly on old sailing routes, their harbours shaped as much by tides and weather as by people. In Tromsø and Hammerfest, small local museums – including the Polar Museum and the Hammerfest Museum – fill in the human side of the story, from Arctic exploration and polar hunting to wartime life in the far north.

If you want to see where Hurtigruten’s story really comes to life, Stokmarknes is the place to be. This is where the company was founded, and the museum sits directly on the quayside, wrapped around a full-scale ship in glass. MS Finnmarken from 1956 is at the heart of it all, with details and artefacts from the original DS Finnmarken of 1912 sitting right alongside it.

You can stand on the bridge, peek into the engine room, wander through cabins and admire the intricate woodwork of dining rooms where generations of passengers once ate while the coast slipped past outside. Photographs, letters and everyday objects bring everything to life including the people who worked aboard, like crew and captains who knew every nook and cranny of the shoreline.

Along the coast, myth and folklore are intertwined with nature as part of everyday history. Mountains are said to be sleeping trolls, fjords carved by giants, and sea cliffs linked to ancient Sámi sacrificial sites. These stories weren’t merely idle tales, but ways of explaining rough seas, sudden storms and the risks of life lived close to the water.

Sailing through places like Trollfjord or past the cathedral-shaped rock of Finnkirka, it’s not hard to see how these stories came about. Even today, folklore comes up in conversations, place names and local museums, with Hurtigruten’s Expedition Team often drawing these threads together on board through stories of Norse gods, Sámi beliefs and coastal legends linked to the places you’re passing.

These talks and casual chats with the Expedition Team take place between ports, sparked by what you’ve just seen from the deck or explored on shore. Subjects range from Viking navigation and medieval trade to religious history and life along the coast during the Second World War.

History unravels itself slowly, moving steadily along the coast, with familiar landmarks taking on new meaning as your journey unfolds and you dive even deeper into the stories and heritage of each destination.

Much of Norway’s early history is tied to the Viking Age, and along Hurtigruten’s route, that past is always there. There are countless excursions to explore it, including the Trondheim City Walk, which offers the opportunity to discover the city’s history and culture with a local guide. Along the way, you’ll see many of Trondheim’s highlights, from Stiftsgården to the bridge locals call “The Portal of Happiness”.

You can also dive deeper into the Viking Age at the Lofotr Viking Museum in Borg, with experiences that change with the seasons. Summer visits are all about how Vikings lived, centred around a replica of the largest Viking building ever discovered, while winter excursions bring the Viking Age to life with traditional rituals and a traditional Viking meal in historic surroundings.

Sailing between ports follows the same highways used by Vikings, traders and fishermen for centuries, and with time ashore and stories shared along the way, it’s hard to imagine a better way to explore Norway’s past than sailing with those who know it best on a Hurtigruten voyage.

A voyage of discovery

With a Hurtigruten cruise you can experience Norway in its most authentic way, gliding slowly along the coast, and immersing yourself in each fascinating destination – travelling the way it’s always been done. For more travel information and inspiration and to plan your trip, visit Hurtigruten. Save up to 30 per cent on a Hurtigruten cruise for departures until March 2027, when you book by 28th February.

Wetherspoon open first pub in continental Europe – here is what it is like

Continental Europe has earned its very first Wetherspoon location, and I was one of the first to visit the new pub.

The first Wetherspoon pub outside the UK and Ireland launched on Monday at Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernandez Airport in Spain.

With over 800 locations across the UK, pub chain J D Wetherspoon (known as Wetherspoons or colloquially as Spoons) is a firm favourite among punters seeking casual food and drinks, affordable prices and fast service.

Since opening its first location in London in 1979, the establishment has become rooted in dining and drinking culture across the British Isles, but this is about to change as the company announced a new location in a much sunnier location.

The pub, named Castell de Santa Bàrbera, is found airside in departures, and will be open seven days a week from 6am to 9pm.

It offers almost 1,000 square feet of customer space on one level, together with an external terrace with customer seating where you can smoke and vape.

Alicante’s menu will include many meals available in Wetherspoon pubs in the UK, such as breakfast dishes, burgers and pizzas, but will also offer special dishes inspired by the local area, like garlic prawns, Spanish omelettes and broken eggs.

To drink, real ales are sadly absent from the bar, but lager choices include Stella Artois, Leffe Blonde, Cruzcampo, Amstel and Guinness, ranging from €4.95 (£4.30) to €7.95 (£6.92), as well as the all-important free refill tea and coffee for €3.30 (£2.87).

The Wetherspoon’s app, used fruitfully in the UK and Ireland to send drinks and food straight to the table (and occasionally, the table of others), is unfortunately not yet up and running, but hopes to be as soon as possible.

Then the usual line-up of soft drinks, spirits, wine and canned beer is available in fridges, including some British favourites like John Smiths and Spanish brands like Mahou Clásica.

Alicante seemed like an obvious choice as the first Wetherspoon location away from British and Irish soil – a longstanding favourite holiday destination among Brits for its affordable family-friendly resorts, warm weather and sandy beaches.

Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin said: “We believe the pub will be popular with a wide range of customers travelling home from Alicante Airport, including those travelling home to the UK and those using the terminal for trips to England and beyond.

“We aim to open a number of pubs overseas in the coming months and years, including those at airports.”

While the chain plains to open in more European airports, Wetherspoon also hopes to make its European high-street debut away from the constraints of airport security.

The Costa Blanca coastline, including Alicante and other locations like Benidorm, has a large British ex-pat community, evident from its already established British comfort-food joints and familiar lagers on draught in pubs and bars along the seaside strips.

Opening up a Wetherspoon location within the region’s airport fits in well with the increasing British presence in the city – another familiar brand to remind them of home.

Phil, who owns a home in Alicante, was on his way to visit family and friends in the UK when he stopped by the Castell de Santa Bàrbera within hours of opening. “I think it will suit a lot of the British crowd,” he told The Independent.

“I was a bit surprised because Wetherspoon has a reputation for having good prices, but most drinks and food in Spain are cheaper anyway.”

However, he added that the ubiquitous brand “will certainly get popular with the stag night crowds from Benidorm”.

While it is a small taste of home, Phil said he likes to “come to Spain to get away from that”, but because it’s the first day, he did not want to pass up the opportunity and ordered a chicken burger and chips.

Meanwhile, Sam, a regular punter of a ‘Spoons’ in Worthing, made the trip to Alicante specially to visit the Spanish branch. After a few days in Alicante, he timed his return flight home with the opening of Castell de Santa Bàrbera.

“It’s quite small, but it’s well kitted out, it’s quite pleasant in here and has a nice atmosphere so far,” he told The Independent.

“I only started going out of my way to visit [different] Wetherspoons in early 2022,” he said with an alcohol-free San Miguel in hand. “My grandad liked to visit different Wetherspoons, so I think I got it from him.”

Despite being one of the most well-recognised brands in the UK, with 44.8 million customers visiting the chain each year, Wetherspoon is known for adding a touch of individuality with unique carpets and decorations inspired by the area’s local history.

Alicante’s pub takes its name from Castell de Santa Bàrbera, a castle that sits overlooking the bay of Alicante, atop Mount Benacantil.

Originating in the 9th century, it has served as a lookout, military fortress and prison, and it remains one of the city’s most significant historic landmarks.

The no-frills, fuss-free chain has become a polarising brand over the years, partly attributed to Mr Martin’s vocal support of Brexit. Yet, Wetherspoon has long been and continues to be appreciated for its affordable food and drink, good wifi, and convenience for every type of punter, whether that’s popping in for a pint, ordering a three-course meal or using the free coffee refills while working on laptops.

Eddie Gershon, a spokesperson for Wetherspoons, explained that Mr Martin’s referendum campaigning “was to do with democracy”.

“Wetherspoon was never anti-Europe,” he said.

“We will continue to open pubs across Europe,” he added. “Why not, there is a market for it, no doubt people will want to come to the pubs.”

The Independent’s travel desk is no stranger to a Wetherspoon-come-office, especially at airports. I, in fact, wrote up notes ahead of my trip in Stansted airport’s The Windmill, while travel correspondent Simon Calder can often be spotted working from The Beehive at Gatwick Airport during flight delays.

The Castell de Santa Bàrbera will go down in Wetherspoon history as a landmark location, following on from a branch opened in Heathrow Terminal 4 in 1992 that was the first airport pub, and the Three Tun Tavern in Blackrock, Ireland, which was the first outlet outside the UK.

Whether you celebrate the new opening or prefer to keep it Spanish while still in Alicante, you will be sure to see sun-kissed Brits having a first taste of home before hopping on a flight back to the UK.

Michelin adds 20 new one-star restaurants to the UK guide

The Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland awards delivered a night of consolidation rather than upheaval, with 20 new one-star restaurants and two new two-star establishments announced, while no new three-star awards were made.

The ceremony, held on Monday 9 February in Dublin, was presented by Lisa Hogan, best known for Clarkson’s Farm, alongside Amanda Stretton, the English racing driver and presenter. The international director of the guide, Gwendal Poullennec, paid tribute to Ireland’s food culture.

All 10 three-star restaurants in the UK retained their status, including Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, which continues to hold the highest accolade under new head chef Kim Ratcharoen.

Michelin’s star rankings are intended as a guide for diners rather than an assessment of luxury. One star denotes high-quality cooking, worth a stop; two stars signal excellent cooking, worth a detour; while three stars are reserved for exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey. In 2020, Michelin introduced the Green Star to recognise restaurants leading the way in sustainability, from sourcing and waste reduction to energy use and wider environmental impact.

Among the headline promotions were two restaurants moving straight into the two-star category. Jason Atherton’s Row on 5, led by Spencer Metzger, was elevated from one star to two for its refined, contemporary fine dining, while Bonheur by Matt Abé, which opened in November, entered the guide at two stars immediately. Bonheur is part of the Gordon Ramsay Restaurants group, and the promotion marks a notable moment for Abé, formerly head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, further extending the Ramsay stable’s presence at the upper end of the guide.

London dominated the new one-star list, with additions including Legado, where Nieves Barragán Mohacho delivers regionally rooted Spanish cooking; Somssi, offering Korean-influenced fine dining at Mandarin Oriental Mayfair; and The Kerfield Arms, signalling Michelin’s growing comfort with elevated pub formats. Gordon Ramsay High also picked up its first star just over a year after opening, further underlining a strong night for the Ramsay group

Beyond the capital, the guide delivered several long-awaited regional breakthroughs. JÖRO became Sheffield’s first Michelin-starred restaurant, recognised for its modern British, produce-led cooking. On the south coast, Mare, led by Rafael Cagali, secured Brighton’s first star in around 50 years, ending one of the guide’s most conspicuous geographic gaps. In Cornwall, Ugly Butterfly earnt a star for Adam Handling’s contemporary, sustainability-focused cooking overlooking Fistral Beach.

Ireland and Scotland were also well represented. In Galway, The Pullman, housed in restored Pullman train carriages at Glenlo Abbey, was awarded a star for Angelo Vagiotis’s modern fine dining, while Forest Avenue continued Dublin’s strong showing. In the Highlands, 1887 at The Torridon hotel picked up its first star alongside a Green Star for sustainability, and Killiecrankie House was recognised for its modern Scottish cooking in a rural setting. The Channel Islands added to their reputation for punching above their weight with a star for Vraic, a seafood-led restaurant rooted in island produce.

The evening also highlighted Michelin’s continued push to recognise sustainability, service and talent development. Seven new Green Stars were awarded, including to Knepp Wilding Kitchen in West Sussex and Forest Side in the Lake District, while Tom Earnshaw of Bohemia in Jersey was named Young Chef of the Year. Shwen Shwen in Sevenoaks took Opening of the Year alongside a Bib Gourmand, reflecting Michelin’s growing recognition of West African cooking in the UK.

While no three-star restaurants lost their awards, a total of 10 restaurants were deleted from the guide this year, the majority following closures. Two one-star restaurants – The Bridge Arms in Kent and Humo in London – lost their stars, both having ceased trading in their original form. Eight of the 10 deletions were the result of permanent closures over the past year.

Among the higher-profile closures were two-starred Claude Bosi at Bibendum, which shut last summer after failing to reach an agreement with its landlords, and La Dame de Pic at Four Seasons Hotel London at Tower Bridge, which closed in February after eight years. Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in Oxfordshire was also removed from the guide following its closure in January for an 18-month redevelopment.

One-star restaurants to close in the past year included Crocadon in St Mellion, Five Fields in London, Dosa by Akira Back in London and Hjem in Hexham, while Pascal Aussignac’s Club Gascon lost its star ahead of its closure next month after 30 years of trading.

Gender representation remains a persistent issue. While several women were recognised among this year’s awardees – including Nieves Barragán Mohacho and Clare Smyth, whose more informal Corenucopia received a star – Michelin figures still show that only around 8 per cent of Michelin-starred chefs in the UK are women, a statistic that continues to shadow the guide’s progress.

In a year defined less by shock promotions than by steady affirmation, Michelin’s message was clear: British and Irish fine dining is holding its ground, broadening its geography and cuisines, and rewarding consistency, even if true upheaval remains elusive.