Five reasons to think twice before investing in buy-to-let March 31, 2016 You hear it all the time. A relative or a friend has just inherited some money. They want to make it work for them. So they make what seems like an ironclad financial decision: they invest in buy-to-let. Why is this so common? After all, property ownership is a relatively recent trend. Well, rental properties [...]
I spent the entire day on the sofa using only my smartphone to feed, clean, entertain, wash and supply me. Here is my story. April 7, 2016 There’s never been a better time to have an aversion to effort. Fuelled by a heady mix of collective laziness and a perceived lack of free time, a new breed of smartphone app has rocketed to popularity: the convenience app; the concierge app; the can’t be bothered doing it myself app. All of them developed [...]
School of hard knocks: How to cut the soaring cost of private education May 26, 2016 When it comes to our children, a good education is priceless. But if you’re talking about sending them to a private school, there is a hefty price tag, and it has been rising precipitously. To send a child to a private day school from 2015 to 2028 will set you back an average of £286,000, [...]
Restaurant review of Jason Atherton’s Sosharu and Soho’s Oliver Maki, London’s newest Japanese upstarts April 5, 2016 Oliver Maki 33 Dean St, W1D 4PWS | Tel: 020 7734 0408 Food ★★★☆☆ Value ★★★☆☆ Atmostphere ★★☆☆☆ Cost for two with beer and cocktails: £170 There’s no easy way to make a million in the restaurant business. It’s a Sisyphean struggle, an endless, mostly thankless, battle against astonishing odds. Every year is the year it could all come [...]
Street Feast owner London Union backed by Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver crowdfunds millions for expansion December 3, 2015 London Union, the celeb-backed company behind Street Feast, Dinerama and Hawker House co-founded by the creator of Leon restaurants has raised millions of pounds to expand across the city. With the public appetite for street food only rising, it raised £2.5m on crowdfunding site Seedrs, with 160 individuals investing between £5,000 and £200,000. It has also raising a [...]
London’s most talked about restaurant, street food venue and vendor in 2015 – Cereal Killer Cafe, Box Park, The Rib Man beat Street Feast, Shake Shack and Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium December 3, 2015 For any food lover, 2015 has been a delight, but what and where was it that got us licking our lips and telling out friends, family and anyone who will listen, about the most? Thanks to Twitter, we may have an answer. Cereal Killer Cafe was one, and the most mentioned restaurant in the city, pipping to the [...]
It’s official – eating processed meat is a major cause of cancer, and it could spell trouble ahead for Britain’s farming industry October 26, 2015 Eating processed meat is a major cause of cancer in humans, according to the results of an investigation by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The study, carried out by WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), found that for every 50g portion of processed meat eaten daily, the risk of bowel cancer increases by [...]
P2P lending: These are the nine key trends in alternative finance April 13, 2016 How will P2P lending fare in a downturn? Can the industry improve securitisation practices? Why did growth slow last year? Is China really the most exciting market? What will consolidation mean for the industry? These are just some of the questions thrown about at LendIt USA. With over 4,000 attendees, including the world’s leading platforms [...]
Private equity firms dine out on restaurant chains January 19, 2016 The restaurants and bar sector was a veritable feeding frenzy of deals last year, with more choice of companies to buy than an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. Robust trading conditions thanks to improved consumer spending provided an opportune time for private equity companies to sell long-term investments to rival buyout firms with cash to spend. CBPE’s sale of [...]
Food trends 2016: black food, Persian food and cherry bakewell tarts January 6, 2016 Black to snack Bamboo blackened brioche buns, dark ribbons of squid ink pasta and even charcoal-infused water will herald the arrival of what might be this year’s least appetising food trend. In 2016 expect to eat black food, very black food, darker than the howling souls of the damned. Burger King Japan kicked off the [...]