Barfly: Pot luck for Cornelian

Thorburn's links to Edinburgh stretch back to 1983 when, after watching his legendary 147 maximum break at the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible, Scottish PR man Ken Greig signed him up for a series of promotional events.

Now a PR consultant for Cornelian, Greig is a keen supporter of Thorburn when he takes part in the 32-venue Snooker Legends Tour. The Cornelian event last week made the firm's Charlotte Square offices Thorburn's 33rd tour venue.

Meaty deal for buyers to sink their teeth into

PERTHSHIRE butcher Simon Howie, named Scotland's Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008, is offering a few extra sweeteners to the buyer of his Victorian farmhouse in Easter Ross.

The property, which is described by estate agent Knight Frank as "well worth a butcher's", is on the market at offers over 750,000 but Howie may also be willing to throw a year's supply of sausages into the deal as well. His unusual offer has been confirmed by Knight Frank - we're not telling porkie pies.

Scoring a winning buy in store wars

'BIG four' accountants are used to battling each other for work but on Friday, staff from across KPMG's Scottish offices engaged in "store wars" to raise thousands of pounds for Barnardos. Eight teams, involving more than 100 KPMG employees, took over Barnardos charity shops in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow for the day and competed against each other to see who could make the most money. The teams used all sorts of props such as giant bunny outfits and even invited special guests to boost takings at their particular store. Barfly was most impressed that one team in Edinburgh even persuaded members of the Scotland rugby squad - Geoff Cross, Ross Ford (pictured), Andrew Kelly and Kyle Traynor - to drop in. We imagine that particular branch had a sudden influx of female shoppers.