Student housing firm Scape signs £500m joint venture with pension investor APG to fund expansion February 22, 2021 Student accommodation developer Scape has secured a £500m joint venture with pension investor APG to fund its expansion into mainstream housing. The joint venture is seeded with around 1,000 student rooms in London and the south east, a £250m mixed use residential and student development in Canada Water and the first Scape mainstream project in [...]
Budget 2021: The long road to recovery March 2, 2021 With government borrowing set to top £300bn this fiscal year, there have been calls in some parts for Chancellor Rishi Sunak to start looking at measures to try and plug the gap between spending and tax revenue. While this is understandable given the size of the deficit, as well as the increase in national debt, [...]
Countryside creep: London homeowners flee capital at record rate August 2, 2021 London homeowners are fleeing the capital at record levels as city slickers pursue newfound housing needs triggered by the Covid crisis, according to new figures released today. Research by estate agent Hamptons shows 61,830 Londoners purchased homes outside the capital in the first six months of this year, the highest number since they started recording [...]
Booze brand Pernod Ricard set to toast full-year profit growth April 22, 2021 Pernod Ricard today said it forecast strong profit growth for the full year after cashing in on boosted demand for its drinks in the third quarter. The French booze group, which owns brands including Absolut vodka and Beefeater gin, posted sales of €1.9bn (£1.6bn) in the three months to the end of March, up 19 [...]
Rush to beat stamp duty deadline drives mortgage borrowing to record high July 29, 2021 A rush to complete house purchases before the tapering of the stamp duty holiday at the end of June drove mortgage borrowing to a record monthly high, reveal new figures published today. The Bank of England said mortgage borrowing hit £17.9bn in June, surging 163 per cent in just a month from £6.8bn in May. [...]
Boris Johnson confirms England’s pubs and non-essential retail will open Monday as vaccine passports given green light April 5, 2021 Boris Johnson has today confirmed pubs, restaurants and non-essential retail across England will reopen on 12 April as a large section of the country’s economy is released from Covid-19 restrictions. The government also confirmed that retail and hospitality businesses will be allowed to use new Covid vaccine certificates to determine whether people can enter their [...]
US law firm eyes City skyscraper 22 Bishopsgate for new headquarters May 19, 2021 A US law firm is said to be eying up office space in the new 22 Bishopsgate skyscraper, marking a major show of confidence in the City after the pandemic. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is closing in on a deal to lease several floors in the building, which is the largest building in [...]
City of London celebrates the return of indoor hospitality and culture as Government continues to ease lockdown restrictions May 18, 2021 The City of London Corporation has today (17 May) announced a further series of events to mark the reopening of its indoor hospitality, cultural and heritage institutions based across the Square Mile. As the Government’s roadmap to ease lockdown restrictions in England reaches its third step, Lord Mayor of London William Russell and Policy Chair of the [...]
Drinking around the world: Romanian wines to die for April 20, 2021 My introduction to Romanian wine was inauspicious. It came in one of Count Dracula’s tourist castle hotels in Transylvania. We sat around a coffin-shaped table as a black-suited waiter approached and smiled, revealing not particularly threatening canines. As he brandished the wine list he said, “May I have the pleasure of providing sir with a [...]
Budget 2021: UK launches new Covid-19 business loan scheme March 3, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak today unveiled a new loan scheme to support businesses hit by the pandemic, replacing previous emergency government funding. The Recovery Loans Scheme will offer loans from £25,000 to £10m up to the end of the year, with the government providing lenders with a 80 per cent guarantee. The programme replaces the Bounce [...]