OUT OF OFFICE September 29, 2010 FLASHDANCE COMES TO THE STAGE It’s all about legwarmers, leotards and doing the splits to Giorgio Moroder’s What a Feeling at the Shaftsbury Theatre, where Flashdance, the 80s cinematic cheesefest about a female welder who dreams of making it to ballet school, is opening in stage musical form. Victoria Hamilton-Barritt stars as leotard-sporting, high-kicking Alex, [...]
Battling Jesus and Poker Gods in WC2 September 20, 2010 RAISE 2,000,” I say, and toss my chips on to the table. My face is carved from granite, but my heart thumps so loudly it could start its own drum ‘n’ bass label. In any big poker tournament there’s always one Table of Death, the one table where all the top pros happen to be [...]
GET PRACTISING YOUR POKER FACE: A NEW CLUB IS COMING TO TOWN July 21, 2010 WOULD you believe it, but I hear London’s very first official poker club is only just preparing to open its doors to the public. The venture is the brainchild of Chris North, a former captain of the Harlequins under-21 rugby team before he joined the world of online gaming 12 years ago. It was while [...]
Shaftesbury sees West End rents rise May 26, 2010 PROPERTY group Shaftesbury yesterday said tourists travelling to London had not been put off by the economic woes of the Eurozone, as it announced a 14.3 per cent jump in net asset value for the first half of the year. “Although the outlook for the UK and European economies remains uncertain, London’s West End is [...]
OUT OF OFFICE April 13, 2010 HAIR COMES TO THE WEST END Back in the age of flower power and the sexual revolution, James Rado and Gerome Ragni’s counter-culture musical was a defining cultural event. Its recent Broadway revival has been an award-laden smash hit and the production has now come to London with the full, tie-dyed Broadway cast. Until 25 [...]
Liberty unveils demerger as profits tumble March 9, 2010 LIBERTY International will split its retail and commercial property businesses in a bid to “achieve greater value for shareholders.” The shopping centres arm of the business will become a real estate investment trust (REIT) called Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) with a market cap of around £2bn. And its London based portfolio will become Capital & [...]
You should shop elsewhere March 9, 2010 LIBERTY didn’t suffer as much as rivals during the recession, which is why it isn’t bouncing back quite so energetically. Consensus forecast for net asset value (NAV) per share was between 480p and 500p, but those expectations were always too high. That said, even the bears were disappointed by the actual NAV per share of [...]
West End booming for landlord Shaftesbury February 12, 2010 WEST End landlord Shaftesbury has seen buoyant trading over Christmas and New year, with lettings exceeding predicted prices. The company, which owns large areas of theatreland, said the West End had enjoyed a booming Christmas period. Around 70 per cent of the company’s portfolio comprises shops, restaurants and leisure and property for leisure uses but [...]
Firth shines in fashionable drama February 11, 2010 Film A SINGLE MAN Cert: 12A Fashion designer – and world’s most stylish dude – Tom Ford makes his directorial debut with A Single Man, and boy won’t he let you forget it. An adaptation of a Christopher Isherwood novel about a day in the life of a college professor named George who is grieving [...]
Pets at Home snapped up for nearly £1bn by KKR January 27, 2010 PETS at Home was snapped up by private equity firm KKR yesterday in a deal worth an astonishing £955m. The sum was well above the £800m being touted by analysts in the lead up to the acquisition. KKR beat stiff competition from Apax Partners, Bain and TPG, who had all tabled offers in the second [...]